Needle in the Haystack
by forensicsfan
Summary: Another New Chapter!! N/S??? (Oh, Yeah!!) The wife of a prominant Las Vegas surgeon turns up dead in the closet. Can our team of CSIs find the evidence that will lead them to the killer?
1. Default Chapter

Delia Herrera prided herself on keeping the home of Dr. Antonio Vargas and his wife Isabel in pristine order. She had worked for them for 10 years since she had moved to Las Vegas from El Salvador and they considered the sixty-something housekeeper part of the family. The large home was located in an upper middle class area of Vegas. Delia checked her watch. 7:30pm. Dr. Vargas should be finishing his surgical rotation at the hospital and be home in about an hour. Delia hadn't seen Isabel Vargas when she had returned from grocery shopping at 4:30. She assumed that Mrs. Vargas had gone out for the evening with friends as she often did when her husband worked into the evening. Most of the time she would time it so that she arrived home when her husband did. The couple had no children and had been very good to Delia. They treated her as more a member of the family than as hired help.  
  
She had almost finished cleaning the master bath when she noticed the reflection of the door of the walk-in closet in the mirror. It was slightly ajar. No matter. She left her cleaning supplies on the counter and walked out of the bathroom into the bedroom toward the closet. She pushed on the door to close it, but was met with resistance. Thinking that perhaps something had fallen off an upper shelf, she tried to open the door to replace the stray item. As she did, the body of Isabel Vargas fell forward and landed face down on the carpet. Delia Herrera screamed and fainted.  
  
Homicide detective Jim Brass was outside the Vargas home when CSIs Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle, and Nick Stokes arrived. Grissom was the first to speak, "What do we have, Brass." referring to the detective by his last name.  
  
Brass led the trio to the bedroom where Isabel Vargas had been found and in a slightly caustic tone remarked, "Our vic is Isabel Vargas, age 35. Wife of Dr. Antonio Vargas. The housekeeper Delia Herrera, was cleaning the master suite and noticed a closet door ajar and tried to close it. When it wouldn't close she opened it to see if something had fallen on the floor, Mrs. Vargas fell out. She claims she fainted when she discovered the body. As soon as she came to, she called."  
  
"Where is Dr. Vargas?" Sara queried as she surveyed the body, still lying halfway out of the closet.  
  
"On his way home from the hospital, I sent a uniform to pick him up." Brass replied.  
  
"Did the housekeeper, uh, Ms. Herrera, notice anything out of the ordinary?" Nick asked.  
  
"She says she hadn't seen Mrs. Vargas since before she left for the grocery store around 2:30 and didn't see her after she got back at 4:30. She said it wasn't unusual for her to go out with friends until her husband came home from work." Brass informed them.  
  
Grissom bent over the vic. He took note of ligature marks on her throat, her eyes showed signs of petechial hemorrhaging. Grissom considered the scene for a moment, "Nick and Sara, I want you to size up the outside of the house. Check for any signs of forced entry. Take pictures of everything. I'm going to call in Catherine and Warrick."  
  
Knowing it was wiser to not ask Grissom why, Nick and Sara exchanged a brief look of surprise before beginning the task of surveying the scene.  
  
"What do you have, Gil?" Brass inquired eyebrow raised.  
  
"Brass, where do you put something when you've got company coming and no time to clean?" Grissom asked.  
  
"I don't really see what my housekeeping abilities have to do with our vic." Brass began, then taking note of Grissom's expression, he continued, "Ok. So I'll play along. I'll take the closet for $300, Alex."  
  
"If our killer was sloppy enough to put the vic in the closet, then he's sloppy enough to leave some of himself behind." Grissom looked like a kid in a candy store. "I love it when they don't realize we're smarter than they are."  
  
Sara began to photograph the house, starting with an overall view to put the whole picture in perspective. Nick check each exterior door and window at the ground level for signs of forced entry. Sara took photos of each. They found nothing out of the ordinary. As they came back around to the front of the house and considered the garage door, they noticed that Catherine and Warrick had just arrived and were talking with Grissom. They joined the other three CSIs as Grissom was filling them in on what Brass had told them.  
  
"The perimeter is clean. No signs of forced entry, no stray footprints in the soil under the windows." Nick recounted to the others.  
  
"Ok. Thanks, Nick." Grissom nodded and then narrowed his eyes, "Catherine, I want you and Warrick to talk to the housekeeper. Find out exactly what time she last saw the vic alive. See if you can get a list of everyone who had regular access to the house, everyone who had a key or a garage door opener. When Dr. Vargas arrives, I want you go with Brass and talk with him. See if he can shed any light on anyone who might have wanted his wife dead. Verify he was at work."  
  
"Ok, Gil. We're on it." With that Catherine and Warrick went in search of Delia Herrera.  
  
With a very determined look on his face, Grissom continued, "Nick. Sara. You're with me." He turned on his heals and headed back into the house. Without a word the two younger CSIs followed Grissom back to the master suite. 


	2. Questioning Delia

Catherine and Warrick approached Delia Herrera who was sitting on the bumper of Brass' police issued Ford Taurus, "Ms. Herrera," Catherine began. "My name is Catherine Willows and this is Warrick Brown. We're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. We'd like to ask you some questions."  
  
"Ms. Willows. Mr. Brown." Delia nodded. Her face was tear stained and her eyes threatened to unleash another storm of tears. Catherine pulled out a packet of tissues out of her pocket and handed it to Delia. "Thank you, Ms. Willows." She blew her nose and dabbed at her eyes.  
  
Catherine sat next to Delia on the bumper. "Ms. Herrera, I know this is difficult for you, but I need to have to explain exactly what happened today."  
  
Delia looked over at Catherine, "I get up early. Dr. Vargas leaves by 7:00, he works 12 hour shifts at the hospital, sometimes more. Mrs. Vargas, she usually sleeps in a little. I got up at 6:00 and got ready for the day. I made Dr. Vargas his breakfast and then after he left, I went to mass. Mrs. Vargas doesn't like to eat breakfast. I came home and started cleaning downstairs. I always do, I've got a system. I had to go out for a couple of hours to the market. You know, I really like the Albertson's, they take anyone's coupons. Anyway, I did the groceries and came home around 4:30. I hadn't seen Mrs. Vargas, but I thought maybe she had gone out with friends. She does that a lot when the Dr. won't be home till later. I put them away and then I watched Oprah and Dr. Phil. I always watch Oprah and Dr. Phil, that's my big break in the day. After that I always clean the upstairs. I was cleaning the master bath when I saw the closet door ajar. I went to close it, but it wouldn't close, so I opened it to see what was blocking it and then, she, oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph" Delia dissolved into sobs.  
  
Catherine pulled out another tissue and handed it to her. Warrick and Catherine exchanged a glance. Warrick squatted down and placed a hand on Delia's arm, "Ms. Herrera, can you think of anyone who might have wanted to hurt Mrs. Vargas in any way? Anyone who might have had something against Dr. Vargas?"  
  
Delia shook her head and through her tears began to speak again, "No. They were like my children. Since I came here from El Salvador, they took care of me like I was family. I could not know kinder people. How could anyone do this to Mrs. Vargas?"  
  
Catherine gently asked, "Ms. Herrera, is there anyone who has access to the house besides the Vargas's and yourself?"  
  
Delia thought for a moment, "Well, on Tuesdays Rick would come to take care of the pool. Wednesdays Randy would come with his crew for the landscaping. Sometimes they would come more when the Vargas's wanted extra things planted. Dr. Vargas is always hiring someone to do things around the house, he usually gets them through one of those agencies. He always takes care of it himself. He just tells me when they are coming and what they are supposed to do."  
  
"So any number of people have access to the house at any given time?" Warrick asked to clarify.  
  
Delia nodded.  
  
Catherine placed a gentle hand on Delia's arm, "Ms. Herrera, Captain Brass is going to want to get some more information from you. He'll probably take you down to the station where it's more comfortable and then we'll get you set up in a hotel."  
  
"Thank you, Ms. Willows." Delia managed.  
  
Catherine and Warrick walked away from Delia toward Brass who was standing some distance away talking to one of his officers.  
  
"Hey, Brass," Catherine called out, "we're finished questioning Ms. Herrera for the time being. Any word on the husband?"  
  
In his typical manner, Brass replied, "No, the good doctor is still in surgery. I'm going to head down to the hospital myself and talk to him. Want to come along for the ride?"  
  
"Yeah, thanks, Brass." Warrick replied.  
  
"Is Grissom still inside?" Catherine inquired.  
  
"Yeah, apparently science takes time." Brass responded. "Should I meet you kids there?"  
  
Catherine flashed him a 100 watt smile, "I'm just going to let Grissom know where we are, and we'll follow you."  
  
Brass' features softened. "Ok then." 


	3. Processing the Scene

Grissom, Nick, and Sara arrived back up in the master suite of the Vargas home. Sara began photographing the layout of the room and the placement of the body.  
  
Grissom contemplated the scene for a moment. "Nick, I want you to dust for prints. Once Al comes and removes the body I want you to concentrate on the closet. We need to see if there is anything on the premises that might have caused the ligature marks on the vic's neck. Sara, when you're done with the preliminary photos, I want you to process the bathroom. The housekeeper said she'd finished about half of it before she noticed the door was open."  
  
"Grissom, what are you going to do?" Sara asked curiously.  
  
He looked up at her with a look that finally realized he'd not let anyone else in on his thoughts and simply stated, "I'm going with the body."  
  
Nick and Sara exchanged a wordless glance and got to work.  
  
Al Robbins, the Clark County coroner assigned to night shift arrived on the scene a short time later. After a preliminary observation of the body, which included noting the ligature marks, petechial hemorrhaging of the eyes, and cyanosis around the lips, they thought that strangulation was the most likely means of death, asphyxiation being the most likely cause.  
  
After Al had removed the body, Grissom left. Nick had turned the bedroom lights out and pulled out the ALS to check for body fluids. Nick studied the carpet where Isabel Vargas had lay. "She didn't die in the closet. No body fluids on the carpet. If she'd been strangled in the closet, we'd find some residue beneath the body indicating lost bladder function as she lost consciousness."  
  
Sara had returned to the bedroom to take photos as the body was removed. "So someone dumped her in the closet."  
  
Nick looked at her and replied, "Looks that way. Question is, where was she killed?"  
  
Sara thought for a moment, "Since she was still wearing pajamas, I think the most like place to start is in here. Maybe she was surprised in the bathroom."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow, "Did you find anything in there to suggest that?"  
  
Sara replied with a half smile, "Not yet. The housekeeper was in the middle of cleaning when she noticed the door ajar. I'm going to pull the drains and see what I can find in there."  
  
Sara walked back into the bathroom to continue processing it. Nick continued searching the room with the ALS. Not finding anything other than what one might expect to find in the bedroom of a happily married couple, he turned the ALS off and turned the lights back on to begin bagging the bedding for processing on the off chance there was foreign DNA in the mix. He then turned his attention to the closet, checking for anything that looked out of place in amongst the designer label clothes. He began bagging each article of clothing, hoping that it might yield some clue upon closer inspection in the lab. In the back of the closet on the floor lay a gold necklace. The chain was really three strands braided together to form a single one. The clasp was broken.  
  
Nick called out to Sara in his Texas drawl, "Sara! I think I've got something here."  
  
Sara emerged from the bathroom, camera in hand. She saw where Nick was pointing to the floor of the closet and leaned in to take photos before Nick bagged the evidence. She looked over at him as they both crouched down in the closet. "Do you think this caused the ligature marks on the vic's neck?"  
  
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he looked back at her, "I think it is certainly a likely suspect."  
  
Sara looked over at the pile of clothing that Nick had bagged to take back to the lab. She raised an eyebrow and smirked at him, "I never knew you were that much of a clothes horse, Stokes."  
  
Nick whose usual attire was something out of The Gap rolled his eyes at Sara's comment, "They're not really my style, Sara," and then winked, "I usually prefer shorter skirts."  
  
Sara's jaw dropped momentarily and then she started laughing. She laughed so hard she fell backward from her crouched position onto the floor. Nick turned to try and help her back up, but when he did she sat up and their foreheads connected with a thud knocking Nick off balance and onto his back.  
  
Nick lay there holding his forehead, "Nice going, Sidle. Your head's harder than a brick wall."  
  
Sara also held her forehead tried to glare at Nick through her hand, "Look who's talking, Stokes. Yours is made of steel."  
  
"I was just trying to be a gentleman. But it's nice to know you think I'm Superman." Nick continued to lay on the carpet.  
  
"Excuse me?" Sara asked somewhat puzzled.  
  
"I was going to help you up when our heads collided." Nick replied letting out a sigh.  
  
Sara tried to stifle a grin, "I meant, never mind."  
  
Nick lifted his head from the carpet still holding his forehead. "Never mind what?"  
  
"We look a whole lot more like Laurel and Hardy right now than Superman and Lois Lane." Sara started to chuckle.  
  
Nick sat all the way up, wincing slightly, "Yeah, I guess you're right." He smiled and removed his hand from his forehead, wincing again.  
  
Sara looked at him with some concern etched on her face, "Hey, Nick?"  
  
"Yeah?" Nick replied looking up at her.  
  
She reached over and touched his forehead causing him to wince again, "Uh, you have a knot on your forehead."  
  
Nick noticed that Sara's now exposed forehead seemed to be sporting a similar mark and pointed, "Uh, Sara, I think you have one too."  
  
They looked at each other and started laughing momentarily until the pain in their foreheads caused them to wince again.  
  
Sara stood up and offered Nick her hand, "We're never going to live this one down, Stokes."  
  
Nick looked at Sara's hand and thought for a moment whether or not he should let her help him since that was how they arrived in the predicament in the first place. She gave him an inpatient look and he took her hand and let her help him up.  
  
Nick surveyed the room, "So, are we done here for now?"  
  
Sara looked at him and replied, "Yeah, I was just finishing up in the bathroom when you found the necklace. Let me pack up my kit and we can get one of the uniforms to help us haul the evidence down to the Tahoe."  
  
"Ok." Nick replied feeling a bit woozy.  
  
In a short order, they had the Tahoe packed up and they were heading back to the lab to log the evidence in.  
  
Grissom had observed the preliminary evaluation of the vic by the coroner. She was being prepped for autopsy and Grissom was on his way to page Nick and Sara. As he walked past the break room he noticed Nick laying on the couch on the far wall. As he entered he noticed Sara laying on the couch opposite the one Nick lay on. Upon closer inspection, he noticed they both held ice packs on their foreheads.  
  
With a curious look of concern he asked, "Nick. Sara. I thought you were processing the scene. What happened?"  
  
Nick opened his eyes and raised his head slightly, wincing, "Sara gave me a concussion."  
  
Without moving or opening her eyes, Sara interjected, "Hey, you gave me one too, Stokes."  
  
Grissom tried to suppress a smirk, "Are you ok?"  
  
"Other than looking like something out of a Laurel and Hardy movie, I'm sure we'll both be fine." Nick replied letting out a sigh.  
  
Grissom tried to suppress a chuckle, "Ok. Now does anyone want to tell me about the scene?"  
  
"We were just wrapping up when I collided with Superman over there. It's all logged into evidence." Sara still had not opened her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, we found a necklace with a broken clasp that's a candidate for your ligature marks, Gris." Nick added.  
  
"Thanks, good work." Grissom responded. "I'll just let you two rest for a while."  
  
Nick raised a hand and waved without looking.  
  
Grissom retreated to his office where he shut the door and laughed at the image forming in his mind of Nick and Sara colliding. 


	4. Telling Dr Vargas

Warrick and Catherine followed Brass to Desert Palm Hospital where Dr. Vargas was a surgeon. After checking with the uniformed officer that Brass had sent earlier, they determined that Dr. Vargas had not yet come out of surgery. A request was made by Brass to the head nurse to inform him immediate when the good doctor was finished, as they had some business of a highly personal nature to discuss with him.  
  
After waiting for about 45 minutes, Dr. Vargas made his way to Brass and the two CSIs. "Are you Detective Brass?" Dr. Vargas inquired.  
  
Brass nodded, "Dr. Vargas?"  
  
"Yes, the head nurse said you'd been waiting here a while and wanted to talk to me about something. Do you think we could make it quick, I want to get home and see my wife." Dr. Vargas expressed.  
  
"Dr. Vargas, is there somewhere we could talk privately?" Brass inquired.  
  
"Uh, yes, my office is just down the hall." Dr. Vargas had an expression of concern on his face as if he wasn't sure what the detective wanted to talk to him about.  
  
The group made there way down to the office and seated themselves. Brass cleared his throat. "Dr. Vargas, this is Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown from the Crime Lab. I'm sorry, but there is no easy way to say this."  
  
The color began to drain out of Dr. Vargas's face.  
  
Brass continued, "Your wife was found murdered in your home earlier this evening."  
  
Catherine and Warrick exchanged glances as the doctor's face registered a look of shock followed by utter horror. His mouth hung open as if he was trying to speak, but no words would come. Then he shook his head, "There must be some mistake. It can't be Isabel. She's the most amazing person. No one would want to hurt her. No. NO! NO!" Sobs took over his body, his voice became softer, almost a whisper, "No, we only have each other. We've known each other since we were 12. No, please, no."  
  
Catherine moved toward Dr. Vargas. "Dr. Vargas, I know this is difficult for you, but we need to ask you some questions so we can find out who did this to Isabel." Her compassionate face coupled with the tissues she handed him caused him to nod.  
  
He looked at the three faces in the room, bearing him this horrible news, "If someone has hurt my Isabel, I'll do whatever I can to help you find them." Another look of concern crossed his face, "What about Delia? How is Delia? Is she ok?"  
  
Catherine nodded, "She's fine. She's the one who found your wife while she was cleaning."  
  
"Oh, dear God. Delia's like a second mother, where is she?" Dr. Vargas queried through tear stained eyes.  
  
Brass interjected at this point, "She's down at the station, we're going to need to get some more information from her and then we'll set her up in a hotel. We'd like to ask you some questions too down at the station."  
  
Warrick added, "We'll need to get a DNA sample from both you and Delia to eliminate it from the samples we process."  
  
Dr. Vargas looked shocked, "Did someone, did she, was she?"  
  
Catherine shook her head, "No, there is no evidence to suggest that your wife was sexually assaulted."  
  
Relief washed over Dr. Vargas's face. "So then, why the DNA?"  
  
Warrick continued, "Dr. Vargas, as you know, DNA is located in every human cell. We are hoping that the killer left some of themselves behind, and by knowing yours and Ms. Herrera's DNA profile, it makes it that much easier to identify DNA that is out of place at the crime scene."  
  
At the words crime scene Dr. Vargas looked ill. He just nodded.  
  
Catherine added, "Dr. Vargas, if you like, you can follow us to the station or we'll take you there and have an officer bring you back later for your car."  
  
He looked up at her, looking fully exhausted, "I'll come with you. I don't think I can drive right now."  
  
"Ok," Brass concluded. The group left the office and headed toward the parking lot. Warrick and Catherine got into the Tahoe they had driven and Dr. Vargas got into the Taurus with Brass. They headed to the station. 


	5. Making an Impression

Grissom made an impression of the ligature marks on Isabel Vargas's neck, before Al began the autopsy. He needed to compare them to the necklace that Nick and Sara found in the back of the walk-in closet. After Al had completed the full autopsy they would have a better idea of the actual means of death. They were fairly certain that the cause of death was asphyxiation. Riggermortis had finally set in, telling them that death had most likely occurred about six to twelve hours previously, putting a preliminary time of death between 9:00am and 3:00pm. Of course determining time of death was always a little tricky. The movies always made it seem so easy, but in reality there were quite a few factors that affected the determination. Things like temperature, humidity, health of the victim, drug use, could affect the determination of time of death. Al would have a tox screen done and Grissom would take into consideration the environmental factors before they came to a clear conclusion. The anecdotal information taken from Delia Herrera and Dr. Vargas would help also, provided that their stories were supported by the evidence. One could never really trust the accuracy of eye witness accounts. The physical evidence was a much better witness to a suspicious death.  
  
The door to the autopsy room opened just as Grissom finished making the impression. He turned slightly and noticed Nick walk in. Grissom gave Nick a puzzled look, "Nick, did you know you have a contusion on your forehead?"  
  
Nick smiled slightly, "Yeah, it's half of a matched set. Sara's got one too."  
  
Grissom tried to suppress a half smile, "How does your head feel?"  
  
Nick winced slightly as he touched his forehead, "Sore. I think she really did give me a concussion."  
  
A look of concern crossed Grissom's face, "Are you ok to work?"  
  
Nick nodded, "Yeah. What do you have so far, Gris?"  
  
A glint shone in Grissom eye, "I've taken an impression of the ligature mark on the vic's neck for you to compare the necklace to. Once Al completes the autopsy we'll have a bit more to go on."  
  
"That's great." Nick replied. "Oh, I also bagged all the clothing in the closet we found our vic in as well as all the bedding. Sara didn't find anything in the bathroom, the housekeeper cleaned so well we don't think we're going to get much if anything."  
  
Al walked in, "Getting the party started without me?"  
  
Grissom looked up at the coroner who was walking in with the aid of his crutch. "Just taking an impression of the ligature marks on her neck. Al, can you put a rush on the tox screen. I've got a feeling there was something in her system, she doesn't appear to have any defensive wounds on her hands."  
  
"You're probably right, Gil. Time will tell. I'll let you know what I find out." Al replied, preparing to begin.  
  
Nick had a concentrated look on his face, "I don't think Sara found anything in the medicine cabinet."  
  
Al began to answer him, "Just about any substance can be toxic in too large of a quantity."  
  
Nick looked up, "No, I mean, it was completely empty."  
  
Grissom raised an eyebrow, "Nick, go get Sara. I want you two to find out what pharmacy the vic used. Talk to the husband and get a list of all prescriptions he has in his name or has written in the last year. We need to find out what was in that medicine cabinet."  
  
Nick nodded understanding, "Find the needle in the haystack." 


	6. A Strange Twist of the Evidence

Nick found Sara sitting up in the break room still holding her forehead. In addition to the contusion she now had a mark left by leaving the ice pack on too long. It was all Nick could do not to laugh. "Hey, Sara, Grissom's got something for us."  
  
She looked up and noticed the grin he was trying to stifle, "What's so funny?"  
  
Nick did his best to suppress a grin, "There's nothing funny about frostbite, Sara."  
  
Sara looked at him perplexed, "The vic has frostbite?"  
  
Nick couldn't hold it back any longer, he laughed as he reached to touch Sara's forehead, "No, but I think you might."  
  
Sara swatted his hand away and tried to glare at him, "You know, you could have woken me up, it's not safe to let someone with a concussion sleep anyway."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow, "Didn't think you needed a babysitter, Sara."  
  
Her eyes narrowed at him, "I don't. Now what did Grissom say?"  
  
Nick brought a hand up in surrender, "Ok, the vic didn't have any defensive wounds and since the medicine cabinet was empty he wants us to track down what was in there. As soon as the tox screen comes back we'll have more to go on."  
  
Her eyes lit up, "Let's hit it, Stokes." She sauntered out of the break room toward one of the computer labs.  
  
Nick followed with a grin on his face.  
  
After several hours of going through pharmacy records, Nick and Sara had compiled a very short list. Aside from Claritin for seasonal allergies, the vic had no prescriptions in her name. Dr. Vargas was very much the same way.  
  
Sara's eyes were ready to glaze over when Grissom popped his head into the computer lab. "Tox screen came back negative." Grissom stated, eyebrows raised, slight smile on his face.  
  
Nick studied him momentarily, "But you have something, don't you?"  
  
"What is it, Gris?" Sara asked.  
  
Looking a bit like a kid in a candy store, Grissom replied, "I compared the ligature marks that I made the impression of, it matches your necklace."  
  
"So, it was the murder weapon?" Nick inquired.  
  
Grissom shook his head, "The bruising pattern from the necklace is perimortem. The vic had no broken bones in the throat area."  
  
Nick and Sara exchanged a perplexed glance. Sara queried, "But she died of asphyxiation."  
  
"True." Grissom continued.  
  
"You know something else," Nick interjected.  
  
"Very good, Nicky." Grissom smiled, "Al found a pair of small burns on the vic's shoulder about 2 inches apart."  
  
Nick contemplated the information that Grissom shared with them, "You know a tazer gun would leave similar marks and render the vic paralyzed. She could have been smothered by something as simple as a pillow at that point."  
  
Sara looked at Nick first with surprise and then with a look of admiration.  
  
"I was thinking the same thing, Nick." Grissom replied.  
  
"We still don't have a suspect do we?" Sara inquired.  
  
"Just follow the evidence." Grissom answered.  
  
"Where are Warrick and Catherine?" Nick asked.  
  
"I've assigned them to another case with Vega. This one is yours and Sara's. I'll act in an advisory capacity." Grissom answered.  
  
Sara raised an eyebrow as if to say something.  
  
Grissom looked over at her, "Don't worry, you two can do it, you might want to wear helmets, but you can do it." A small half smile tugged at his mouth. 


	7. Playing a Hunch

Nick played a hunch and pulled the pillow cases from the evidence that he and Sara had collected from the Vargas home. If his hunch was correct, they might just find evidence that one of the pillows in the bedroom had been used to smother Isabel Vargas after a tazer gun had incapacitated her. And if he was right about this, there just might be some DNA left by the killer.  
  
He and Sara used the ALS on the pillow cases, looking for traces of any body fluids, such as saliva or blood. They found several traces of saliva, and snipped pieces of the fabric to give to Greg to process for DNA. Then, they took each pillowcase and fumed it, to see if they could come up with any fingerprints.  
  
Fortunately for them, Delia Herrera was religious about cleaning. She replaced the bedding on a daily basis, so everything on the pillowcases had arrived there within the 24 hours before the murder.  
  
They had fumed three pillowcases with no result. The fourth was in process, and a face print slowly formed on the dark blue fabric. They stood side by side as the image emerged. They had found the murder weapon. However, on the reverse side of the fabric, there were no fingerprints. Hopefully, Greg would be able to identify some foreign DNA that would lead them to their killer.  
  
Grissom popped his head into the lab where Nick and Sara were working, "How's it coming?" he inquired.  
  
Sara looked up, "Hey, Grissom. We've got a murder weapon." She pointed to the pillowcase still under the fume hood.  
  
Grissom came in for a closer view, "Good work, you two. Have you checked to see if the Vargas' owned a tazer?"  
  
Nick and Sara exchanged a glance before Nick answered, "There wasn't one in the house, but Brass is getting us a warrant so we can check their bank account and credit card records."  
  
"Let me know what you find out." Grissom stated and then left as quickly as he had come.  
  
With a smirk on her face Sara turned to face Nick who was leaning up against the counter they were standing by in the center of the lab, "Vying for teacher's pet?"  
  
Nick winked at her, "Why, afraid you might be slipping, Sidle?"  
  
"I can handle the competition, Stokes," Sara grinned.  
  
He raised an eyebrow, "Can you now?"  
  
Sara rolled her eyes, "Give a guy a compliment, and all he does is try and insult me,"  
  
"Oh, is that what that was? A compliment I mean," Nick interjected.  
  
Sara tried to restrain a grin, "You're keeping a step ahead of Grissom."  
  
Nick smiled at her stating, "And that impresses you."  
  
"Suppose it does?" Sara challenged.  
  
"I suppose that would be an accomplishment." Nick grinned.  
  
"Why, you don't think that I can be impressed when someone does good work?" Sara defended.  
  
"I didn't say that." Nick was becoming slightly amused with Sara's defensiveness. "You just don't normally vocalize it." He winked at her and playfully tapped her nose with his finger before turning to open the fume hood so they could photograph the pillowcase.  
  
Sara blushed slightly at Nick's playful gesture, hoping he didn't notice. She turned to retrieve the camera and began photographing the image that had been brought out on the pillowcase. 


	8. Examining the Evidence

Sara had been going through the Vargas' financial records for what seemed to her an eternity. So far she had come up with nothing. Dr. Vargas had been extremely helpful on providing receipts. He was as meticulous at keeping records as Delia Herrera was at cleaning house. At the moment, Sara wasn't feeling too thankful for this since she was only about half way through the records.  
  
Nick had taken the list of people that Dr. Vargas had provided who had regular access to the home, as well as those who had done odd jobs, and had begun the process of doing background checks. So far Rick the pool man and Randy the landscaper and their respective crews had come back clean. Not surprising since Dr. Vargas said that he had done a background check on them himself before hiring them. Nick was having a bit more difficulty with those who had performed odd jobs for Dr. Vargas. He had placed a phone call to the agency that they had been employed through, but since it was the middle of the night, he didn't expect to get a return call until sometime toward the end of shift. So far every angle they had taken to find a suspect had turned into a dead end. Dr. Vargas had a solid alibi, as he was in surgery all day. Delia Vargas was an unlikely suspect, and her story had checked out as well, but it didn't completely eliminate her from suspicion.  
  
Nick truly felt like they were looking for a needle in a haystack. He and Sara were up to the task though. They were both meticulous about the evidence. If there was a trace of the killer to be found, they would find it. Grissom had placed his confidence in them and Nick was not one to let someone down. Besides, Sara was impressed. That thought caused him to smile. It was so funny to him how defensive she got at times when she tried to compliment someone. And he thoroughly enjoyed teasing her. He knew exactly which buttons to push with her and she seemed to fall for it every time. There was just something about her when she was mad that made Nick melt.  
  
Nick was still smiling when Warrick sauntered into the computer lab Nick was working in and leaned against the inside of the doorframe. "Hey, man, how's the case going?" Warrick inquired.  
  
Nick looked up, "Slow."  
  
Warrick winced when he saw the knot on Nick's forehead, "Nick, what did you do to your head?"  
  
Nick crossed his arms in front of himself and leaned back in his chair. With a slight grin he answered Warrick, "Sara gave me a concussion."  
  
Warrick chuckled, "What did you do to piss her off?"  
  
Nick chuckled in return, "Why do you assume that I must have done something? I was merely trying to be a gentleman and help her up off the ground."  
  
Warrick raised an eyebrow.  
  
While Nick and Warrick were talking, Sara had come searching for Nick to how his end of the investigation was coming. As she poked her head into the lab, she interjected, "If it wasn't for you, Stokes, I wouldn't have been on the ground in the first place."  
  
Warrick turned look at Sara and noticed the knot on her forehead. He had to contain a chuckle as he asked her, "What happened to your head, Sidle?"  
  
She glared at Nick and then turned to answer Warrick, "Nick gave me a concussion."  
  
Warrick raised an eyebrow at her and teased, "Hmm, that's interesting. Nick claims you gave him one."  
  
Nick raised his hands in surrender and with a thicker than normal drawl stated, "Hey, I was just trying to be a gentleman and help you up, Sara."  
  
She rolled her eyes at Nick, "If I had needed your help, Nick, I would have asked."  
  
Nick's eyebrows shot up in amusement. He turned to look at Warrick, who was trying to suppress a smile and then turned back to Sara. "The Sara Sidle I know wouldn't ask for help whether she needed it or not. Besides, a gentleman is a gentleman regardless of the situation." Nick just smiled.  
  
Sara felt a faint blush creeping into her cheeks. She decided she needed to change the subject to something she had a little more control over. "How are the background checks going?"  
  
Nick and Warrick exchanged a brief knowing glance before Nick answered, "Slow. So far everyone has come up clean and I'm waiting to get a call back from the agency that Dr. Vargas hired his day laborers through." He looked at his watch, "Since it's three in the morning, I'm not expecting a call anytime soon. What about you? Have any luck with any of those receipts?"  
  
Sara shook her head, "Nothing so far. Dr. Vargas doesn't remember his wife owning one, and he claims he didn't buy her one. The housekeeper says she doesn't recall seeing one in the house either. I'm about halfway through and my eyes needed a break." Sara looked from Nick to Warrick and back at Nick, "Do you guys want to grab a cup of coffee in the break room? I think Greg just brewed a new batch."  
  
Warrick replied, "Don't have to ask me twice." With that he exited the lab and headed down the hall toward the break room.  
  
Nick stood up and walked toward Sara who was still standing by the door. He brushed a lock of hair off her forehead and tucked it behind her ear as he looked closely at the knot on her forehead and winked, "Does mine look as bad as that?"  
  
Sara narrowed her eyes at him and smacked him on the arm, "If you're not careful, Stokes, it's going to look worse than it already does."  
  
Nick dodged Sara's second attempt to hit him and chuckled to himself as he walked past Sara toward the break room. He could hear her walking behind him, but he didn't dare turn around. It was fortunate for Sara that he didn't because she was blushing from Nick's fingers touching her face as he had brushed the hair behind her ear. 


	9. Discussing the Evidence

Catherine sat relaxing in the break room with a cup of coffee when Warrick sauntered in. "Word travels fast when there's decent coffee in this place."  
  
Warrick smiled, "Yeah, well if Greg ever stops making this stuff we're all in trouble." He gestured to the doorway as he poured himself a cup of coffee, "Watch out, the dynamic duo is on the way."  
  
Catherine raised her eyebrows curiously and then suppressed a smile by taking another sip of coffee when Nick and then Sara entered the break room, matching contusions evident on their foreheads. "So did you guys forget to duck or something?" Catherine smirked.  
  
Sara glared at Nick who just grinned and dodged Sara's hand as she tried to swat him yet again. "I was just trying to be a gentleman, and this is what I get in return." He gestured toward Sara. "She gave me a concussion."  
  
"For the record, you gave me a concussion too, Nick." Sara added, knowing that it was going to be some time before her and Nick were going to be able to live this one down.  
  
Catherine interjected, "Well, Nicky boy, the modern independent woman doesn't always understand the charms of you Texas boys." She grinned at him.  
  
Nick grinned and winked at Catherine in return then walked over and grabbed two cups and poured the first full of coffee. Sara had walked over to get herself a cup, but before she could reach in and grab one, Nick offered her the full cup. Not wanting to appear ungrateful, she accepted it with a quiet "Thank you," before sitting down at the table with Catherine and Warrick.  
  
Catherine and Warrick exchanged a knowing glance at the exchange. Nick poured himself a cup and joined the others at the table.  
  
"How's the Vargas case?" Catherine queried.  
  
"Slow going," Nick responded. "I feel like we're searching for a needle in a haystack. We know that Isabel Vargas was smothered with a pillow after she was most likely stunned with a tazer. We even have the pillowcase with an image of her face on it. What we don't have is the tazer, fingerprints, or a DNA match. Dr. Vargas has an alibi because he was in surgery all day. Delia Herrera isn't a likely suspect even though I don't think she can be completely ruled out."  
  
Sara interjected, "Yeah, we're at a standstill unless we uncover some evidence that points to someone specific." She paused and sipped her coffee.  
  
"I've found some DNA on your pillowcase that isn't your vic, the husband, or the housekeeper," Greg said as he entered the break room. "I'm running it through CODIS right now to see if we can find a match."  
  
"Thank you, Greg!" Sara exclaimed grinning at him.  
  
"I can think of other ways you can express your appreciation, Sara, but we might want to be alone." Greg commented suggestively as he poured himself a cup of coffee.  
  
Nick and Warrick shot Greg a glare and Catherine rolled her eyes. Sara just shook her head, "Don't push your luck, Greggo."  
  
Greg turned toward the four CSIs with his full cup of coffee and only then did he notice the knot on Sara's forehead, "Hey, what happened to you, Sara?"  
  
Sara grinned smugly, "Nick gave me a concussion."  
  
Greg's eyes narrowed at Nick.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow at Greg, "Hey, before you say anything, Sanders, you might want to take note of this right here." Nick pointed at his own bruised forehead. "Sara gave me a concussion too. It takes two to tango you know."  
  
Greg waggled his eyebrows, "Sounds kinky."  
  
Sara blushed and tried to suppress a smile. Nick grinned and sipped his coffee.  
  
Catherine gave Greg a withering glance, "Can it, Greg, and get your mind out of the gutter."  
  
"Yeah, Sanders." Warrick added rolling his eyes at the lab tech's comments.  
  
Nick looked over at Warrick and Catherine, placed a hand over his heart, and batted his eyelashes, "Thanks for defending my honor."  
  
"Hey, guys, as much as I'm enjoying all of this, I'm going to get back to work." Sara commented as she picked up her coffee cup and placed it in the sink. "Greg, let me know if CODIS spits anything out." She turned and left the break room heading back toward the lay out room she'd been working in earlier.  
  
Nick also stood, "I supposed I should get back to those background checks. Greg, page me if you get any hits." He placed his coffee cup in the sink and headed back to the computer lab.  
  
"Was it something I said?" Greg asked with mock innocence. "Well I suppose time, tide, and CODIS wait for no man." He took a last sip of his coffee before placing the cup in the sink with the others, winking at Catherine, and heading back to the DNA lab.  
  
Catherine took a long sip from her coffee cup and looked over at Warrick, "So, how did Nick and Sara bruise their foreheads anyway?"  
  
Warrick grinned, "I think they were butting heads."  
  
Catherine gave Warrick a withering glance.  
  
"Seriously, you know about as much as I do." Warrick replied.  
  
"The sexual tension between those two is getting a little thick." Catherine took another sip of her coffee.  
  
Warrick chuckled, "Tell me about it. If they don't figure it out soon, we might have to give them a little push."  
  
Catherine raised an eyebrow and a devilish smile crossed her face. 


	10. Right Angle

Sara finally finished going through the rest of the receipts from the Vargas'. She had turned up nothing. She let out a sigh of frustration and sat back in her chair and surveyed the mass of paperwork spread out all over the layout table.  
  
"Nothing?" Nick asked as he walked in.  
  
She nodded as she looked up at him, "You?"  
  
"Same." He replied sitting down in a chair next to hers. " I just got off the phone with the agency that Dr. Vargas hired his day laborers from. Dead end." He ran his fingers through his hair.  
  
Sara looked at him quizzically, "Did Greg ever page you?"  
  
Nick shook his head, "You?"  
  
"No." She replied.  
  
Nick let out a deep sigh.  
  
"So we're back to square one." Nick observed.  
  
Grissom chose that moment to pop his head into the layout room. "How's the case coming?"  
  
Sara looked up with a defeated look on her face, "Dead end."  
  
Nick nodded, "We've gone over ever piece of evidence we have and we don't have anything yet. Maybe we're looking at it all from the wrong angle."  
  
"Nick. Maybe that's the problem." Grissom looked at him with a knowing look.  
  
"What do you mean, Gris?" Nick inquired, glancing over at Sara.  
  
"You assume there's a right angle. Sometimes things are obtuse." Grissom gave Nick and Sara a half smile and then turned and left.  
  
Nick just sat there nodding with a grin playing at the corners of his mouth, his arms crossed over his chest.  
  
Sara tried to suppress a smile as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She began to chuckle.  
  
Nick turned his head toward her, "What's so funny, Sidle?"  
  
"You're slipping, Stokes." Sara grinned.  
  
Nick raised a curious eyebrow at her comment, "Seems to me, Sara, we're in the same spot."  
  
She looked at him quizzically.  
  
Nick studied Sara briefly, "We're still at square one. Grissom doesn't know any more than we do."  
  
"But he did point out that we've been going at it all wrong." Sara offered.  
  
Nick looked at her with a look of amusement clearly etched on his face, "No, Sara. We haven't been going at this wrong. We've collected evidence and we've examined it in a very logical and forthright manner. We've hit a dead end. Now we back up a little and try a different angle. Just because the way we've been going about it hasn't produced a viable suspect doesn't mean that it is wrong, it just implies that it is not complete."  
  
Sara looked over at Nick with a faint smile playing at her lips and spoke softly, "It's no fun to tease you when you're right."  
  
A wide grin broke over Nick's face, "Was that another compliment from the mouth of Sara Sidle?"  
  
Sara tried to stifle a smile as she turned away from him, "Don't let it go to your head, Stokes." She stood up and started reorganizing the paperwork on the layout table so she could store it back in the evidence locker.  
  
"So you're not denying it then, Sara." Nick pressed as he stood up and leaned against the layout table as she gathered the paperwork.  
  
Sara stopped what she was doing and looked up at Nick who was grinning. She raised an eyebrow at him and leveled a withering gaze at him, "Don't press your luck, Stokes. Gloating isn't very attractive."  
  
Nick leaned toward her slightly, and spoke in a soft voice, teasing her, "So what is attractive, Sara?"  
  
The first thought that came to her mind was 'you', but she held her tongue as she turned to face him, "Wouldn't you like to know?" She smirked at him and then hefted the box with all the paperwork in it and turned to leave. She managed to collide with Nick who was standing closer than she had anticipated and the box crashed to the floor, spewing it's contents all over. Sara's jaw just dropped as she looked at the floor.  
  
Nick quickly stooped down and started methodically picking up the paperwork and setting it back up on the layout table.  
  
"Thanks, Nick." Sara finally spoke. "I'd offer to help, but I'm not sure we have the coordination to be in close quarters on the floor."  
  
Nick looked up at her and grinned with a wink knowing what she meant, but not wanting to miss the opportunity to tease her about how her comment sounded, he replied in a suggestive voice, "Just what are you implying, Ms. Sidle?"  
  
Sara's face developed a horrified expression as she realized how her comment must have sounded. She blushed a deep shade of red. "Ah, I just remembered something I need to do." With that, Sara rushed out of the room and headed to the only place she could think of where she could be alone. The roof. 


	11. An Apology

Nick continued picking up the paperwork that had spilled all over the floor when Sara had bumped into him. He let out a deep sigh. Sometimes he needed to think before he opened his mouth. This time, he may have pushed Sara a bit too far. He saw the horrified expression on her face and how embarrassed she was. Her comment was completely innocent, but he had to go and imply a sexual connotation. Still, seeing her face all flushed brought a smile to his face. He didn't think that something like that would have embarrassed her so much.  
  
He froze for a moment as a thought crossed his mind. Unless.  
  
Nick finished picking up the last of the paperwork and sat back at the layout table, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Could it be that perhaps Sara was attracted to him? She certainly did flirt with him a lot when she had first joined the team almost three years ago, but she'd toned down quite a bit since then. He'd been flirting shamelessly with her for months. The last few weeks his hints had gotten less subtle as he tried to read her reactions. Earlier, he had let his fingers linger a little longer than necessary as he brushed a stray lock of hair back behind her ear. Who was he kidding, longer than necessary? He shouldn't have been brushing hair out of her face in the first place. That in and of itself was pretty blatant flirting.  
  
Nick grinned as he sat there sorting through the paperwork, trying to put it back into some kind of order.  
  
Warrick popped his head into the layout room, "I thought Sara was working on this." His tone was quizzical.  
  
Nick replied without looking at Warrick, "She was. It ended up on the floor. My fault. So I'm cleaning it up."  
  
A smiled formed on Warrick's face, "So, where is she now?"  
  
Nick turned in his chair to face Warrick, "I don't know, I think she's pretty pissed off at me." A sheepish look crossed Nick's face.  
  
Warrick narrowed his eyes at Nick, "What did you do this time?"  
  
Knowing there was no point in denying that he'd done something, Nick answered, "I was teasing her, and I think I pushed her a little too far."  
  
"Nick, man. Do you think that maybe you should go apologize?" Warrick queried.  
  
Nick nodded, "Yeah, but I thought I'd let her cool off first. She looked pretty embarrassed."  
  
Warrick's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Embarrassed? What exactly did you say to her?"  
  
Nick shook his head, "If I tell you, I'm pretty sure that she'll kill me." Nick stood up from his seat at the layout table and picked up the box that he had finished organizing to take back to the evidence locker. "I'll see you later man, I'm gonna see if I can find her."  
  
After dropping the box off in the evidence room, Nick went in search of Sara. He finally found her up on the roof, watching the sunrise.  
  
He came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Sara?"  
  
She jumped, "Nick! You scared the hell out of me!" She glared at him.  
  
The tone of his voice was soft, "Hey, Sara. I just wanted to apologize to you for earlier."  
  
Her posture and the tone of her voice was defensive, "Apologize for what? Knocking the box out of my arms. Fine."  
  
A smile played at Nick's mouth as he watched her, "That's not what I meant. Although, I did finish picking everything up and it's back in evidence."  
  
Sara's voice was almost at a whisper, "Thanks. Uh, what did you mean?" She didn't look up at him.  
  
"I wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. You seemed upset by it." Nick wasn't sure how to dive into this conversation.  
  
"I wasn't upset." Sara defended, still not looking at Nick.  
  
Nick's arms were crossed in front of him, "Sara, you looked upset and if you weren't, why did you leave?"  
  
Sara didn't say anything.  
  
Nick placed a hand on her shoulder again, "It looked like I embarrassed you with what I said and I wanted to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have implied something sexual, it was out of line and I'm sorry."  
  
Sara tried to turn away from Nick, her face turning red. Nick stopped her, noticing the color creeping into her face.  
  
"Are you blushing, Sara?" Nick inquired trying not to smile as he looked at her.  
  
Sara didn't meet Nick's gaze, looking everywhere but at him, "I don't know what you're talking about, Nick."  
  
Nick couldn't hold back his smile any longer, "Sara Sidle, you're blushing."  
  
Sara finally met his gaze, "So what if I am?" she challenged feeling very vulnerable.  
  
Nick grinned at her, the light from the rising sun casting a golden hue on them, "Sara, what would you do if I kissed you?" 


	12. Interruption

A surprised look crossed Sara's face and she whispered in response, "Do you want to?"  
  
Nick's voice softened as he nodded and looked into her eyes searchingly, "May I?"  
  
Sara smiled and nodded, closing her eyes. She felt the palm of Nick's hand gently caress her cheek.  
  
He leaned toward her, eyes closing. He could feel her breath on his lips. He took a step closer to her. The anticipation of this kiss was intoxicating.  
  
A loud noise startled them and their eyes flew open as they jumped apart. Nick and Sara exchanged a glance as they noticed the door to the roof open and Warrick step out.  
  
"Hey, Nick, there you are. Hey, Sara. I've been looking all over for you, man. We're all going out to breakfast at the diner, do you guys want to come, or did I interrupt something?" Warrick could tell he'd interrupted something, but decided to play it cool since he couldn't tell what.  
  
"Uh, yeah, that sounds good. I didn't realize shift was over already." Nick commented in response running his fingers through his hair, trying not to look at Sara.  
  
Warrick looked at Sara and raised an eyebrow. "You in, Sara?"  
  
Sara cleared her throat as she looked at Warrick rubbing her cheek where Nick's fingers had just been, "Yeah, sounds good."  
  
Warrick turned to leave, hiding his bemused smile, "I'll meet you downstairs then." He chuckled to himself as he walked back across the roof to the door.  
  
Nick and Sara glanced at each other knowing the moment had been spoiled and after a few moments of awkward silence slowly followed Warrick's path down the stairs toward the break room.  
  
As Warrick entered the break room, Catherine inquired, "Did you find them?"  
  
He smiled and nodded, "Oh, yeah."  
  
Catherine's eyebrows shot upward, "Do tell." A smile formed on her lips.  
  
A guilty look crossed Warrick's face, "I think I may have interrupted something."  
  
Catherine grinned at him, her arms crossed in front of her, "Oh, really."  
  
"I'm just not sure what." Warrick continued, "But I'm pretty sure that it was personal whatever it was. They were trying a little too hard to not look at each other."  
  
Catherine just smiled.  
  
"Did I miss something?" Grissom inquired as he entered the break room, noticing the conspiratorial looks on Warrick and Catherine's faces.  
  
"Uh, no. I was just telling Catherine about my last date." Warrick explained, hoping that Grissom would buy it.  
  
"Oh," Grissom commented, no longer interested, "Where are Greg, Nick, and Sara?"  
  
"Right here, Grissom." Greg answered as he came down the hall toward the break room to join the others.  
  
Catherine interjected, "I think Nick and Sara were checking something back into evidence. They should be here any minute."  
  
A moment later, Nick sauntered into the break room with Sara right behind.  
  
"Are you guys ready?" Nick inquired.  
  
"Just waiting for you." Grissom replied.  
  
Nick and Sara glanced at each other briefly and a bit of color infused both of their cheeks before they turned back to the rest of the group. Only Catherine noticed the change in color.  
  
"I'm driving," Grissom asserted.  
  
The group began to file out chatting amiably, Warrick and Catherine were last to leave. Catherine whispered to Warrick, "I definitely think you interrupted something. Did you see the look on their faces when Grissom said we were waiting on them?"  
  
Warrick chuckled and the pair followed the rest of the group out to Grissom's Tahoe to drive to the diner for breakfast. 


	13. Catherine's

When they arrived at the diner, Nick and Sara sat on opposite sides of the table from each other and exchanged silent glances, Warrick and Catherine took notice of their interaction and exchanged smirks, and Grissom was lost in conversation with Greg about the latest advances in DNA testing on maggots.  
  
The waitress was familiar with the group, they hardly varied their order, and they were served very quickly.  
  
As they ate, Grissom noticed that Nick and Sara were unusually quiet, "Nick, Sara, are you feeling ok?"  
  
Sara looked over at Grissom and mumbled, "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess my head still hurts. I'm a little dizzy."  
  
Nick glanced at Sara and then at Grissom before answering, "Me too."  
  
Grissom raised a curious eyebrow, "How is the case coming?"  
  
"Nothing new, Gris." Nick replied for both of them.  
  
Catherine and Warrick took in the scene between bites of food remaining silent.  
  
Greg interjected, "I haven't gotten a match from CODIS yet, but then, the system has crashed a couple of times today."  
  
Grissom looked at Nick and Sara with concern, "You said you had a concussion, did you get checked out?"  
  
Nick shook his head, "I told you, I think we'll both be fine."  
  
Grissom was about to say something when Catherine interrupted, "Well, you can't be left alone with a concussion. Both of you are coming home with me. You can crash on my sectional, there's room for both of you and I'll check on you every couple of hours to make sure you're ok." She smiled very mom-like. Warrick tried to suppress a smile at Catherine's genius idea.  
  
Both Nick and Sara started to protest, Grissom interrupted, "Catherine's right. If you have a concussion, you shouldn't be alone, and you should be woken up every couple of hours."  
  
Sara was too tired to continue to protest, but the thought of being that close to Nick made her extremely nervous, especially after Nick almost kissed her on the roof.  
  
Nick glanced at Sara, he too was tired and his head hurt. He wasn't sure it was such a good idea to be that close to Sara while trying to sleep, but if he tried to explain why it wasn't a good idea, he'd have to share far more than he wanted to.  
  
They arrived back at the lab and Catherine stood there with arms crossed in front of her as Nick and Sara made their way into her vehicle after each retrieving a bag of spare clothes they all carried in their Tahoes. Grissom went back inside, claiming he had forgotten something, but everyone knowing he was really going back to work. Greg was slightly disappointed that he couldn't come up with a reason to stay at Catherine's also, so he made his good-byes and headed home. Warrick exchanged a silent look with Catherine that spoke volumes, and he knew he'd get a full report from her at the beginning of next shift.  
  
As they made their way into Catherine's house she turned and asked them, "Is there anything I can get for you? You can make yourselves at home. Lindsey is staying at my sisters, so it should be pretty quiet. I'll just get you some pillows and blankets." Catherine headed off to the end of the hall to the linen closet and Nick and Sara headed into the living room, sitting down on opposite ends of the sectional trying not to look at each other.  
  
Catherine tried not to laugh as she entered the living room and noticed Nick and Sara not looking at each other. It occurred to her that this is how kids acted when she was in high school when they wanted to dance, but didn't know how to ask. She smile pleasantly enough and placed the pillows in the middle of the sectional, so their heads would be together, and handed each of them a blanket. "If you get cold, I'll leave a couple of extra blankets right here."  
  
Nick looked at Catherine, "Catherine, you really don't need to do this, I'm sure I'm fine. I've just got a little headache. I don't want to put you out."  
  
Sara joined in, "Yeah, Nick's right. I mean, besides this bruise, I'd be fine at my own house."  
  
Catherine gave them both withering glances, "You're not putting me out. You both have a concussion and you need to be checked on. Don't argue. I'll check on you in a few hours."  
  
With that she walked down the hall to her bedroom and shut the door. Nick and Sara just looked at each other. As they met each other's gaze, Nick grinned and Sara blushed.  
  
"Sara Sidle, you're blushing again." Nick quipped.  
  
"Shut up, Nick." Sara was feeling uncomfortable and she averted her gaze from Nick.  
  
Nick's voice softened, "Hey, Sara. I'm sorry." He came over and sat next to her.  
  
Sara looked at him, "No, Nick, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be short with you. I'm just feeling a little awkward after earlier."  
  
Nick lowered his gaze and let out a deep sigh, "I'm sorry, I was out of line. I shouldn't have tried to kiss you."  
  
A look of confusion crossed her face, "But you said you wanted to."  
  
He looked at her with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "Yeah, I wanted to. I still want to, but maybe we should talk about this first."  
  
Sara blushed, "What do you want to talk about?"  
  
A lopsided grin crossed Nick's face, "Sara, I care about you. You're my friend, we work closely together. If we started something, what if it didn't work out?"  
  
Sara looked at him with a slight smile and a raised eyebrow as she leaned back into the couch, "So, what are you saying? I'm not worth the risk?"  
  
Nick smiled, his eyes twinkling, "I didn't say that."  
  
Sara leaned forward and touched the side of Nick's face, letting her fingers trail along his jaw line as she glanced from his eyes to his lips, "Then shut up and kiss me, Nicky."  
  
A grin spread across Nick's face. His hands cupped both sides of Sara's face. His thumbs caressed her cheeks. Sara smiled and licked her lips unconsciously. Nick's eyelids drifted closed as he pulled Sara toward him. Sara's eyes closed and she could feel Nick's soft warm breath on her lips.  
  
"Hey, I forgot to tell you guys that the towels are in the hall closet in case you want to take a shower," Catherine had come out of her room and was walking down the hallway toward the living room. Nick and Sara jumped apart and tried to act natural as Catherine entered the room.  
  
"Uh, thanks, Cath." Sara replied. "I think I'm good right now."  
  
Nick grinned at her, "Me too."  
  
Catherine raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "If you want to watch a movie or something, the DVDs are in the entertainment center and the remote is right here. I've got the entire Disney collection." She gestured toward the entertainment center. Catherine looked at Nick, "Sorry, I don't have cable."  
  
"Catherine, we're fine. I told you that you don't need to go to all this trouble," Nick replied stealing a glance at Sara.  
  
Catherine smiled at the pair, crossing her arms in front of her, "It's no trouble. I'm going to try and catch some sleep, but if you need anything, you can wake me up. I'll check on you in a couple of hours." She turned and headed back to her bedroom wearing an amused smile. 


	14. Movie?

Nick and Sara grinned at each other as Catherine retreated to her bedroom. Nick raised an eyebrow, "Want to watch a movie?"  
  
"I thought you wanted to kiss me." Sara whispered flirtatiously.  
  
Nick caressed her face with a glance and whispered back, "I do, but I have a feeling if I tried again, we'd have company."  
  
Sara chuckled, "I think you're right." She got up from the couch and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the entertainment center, "Ok, let's see what we have to choose from." Sara chuckled, "Nice collection, Catherine has here."  
  
Nick joined her on the floor, "'Little Mermaid', my nieces love that one."  
  
Sara grinned at him, "I bet you had a crush on Ariel."  
  
Nick smiled, "Wouldn't you like to know. Oh, and here we have one of the best movies of all time." He held up the DVD case.  
  
"I never would have picked you for a 'Princess Bride' kind of guy." Sara teased.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow, "There's a lot about me you don't know, Sara."  
  
Sara leaned into his shoulder with hers and turned her face to smile at him, "Hmm, is that a challenge or an invitation?"  
  
Nick grinned at her as he pulled out another movie, "Maybe a little of both." He handed her the DVD, "What do you think about this one?'  
  
Sara looked at the movie he handed her and started laughing, "Uh, 'Beauty and the Beast'?"  
  
"Why don't you pick then, Sara. I'll just go back and sit on the couch. I'm sure whatever you pick will be fine." He smiled at her went back to the couch.  
  
Sara continued to peruse the movie selections and glanced back at Nick every now and then with a smile on her face. She finally settled on a movie and put it into the DVD player. She sat down in the corner of the sectional and turned to Nick, "Hey, Nick, scoot over."  
  
Nick looked over at her quizzically, but scooted away from her.  
  
Sara grinned at him, "The other way, Nicky."  
  
Nick grinned at her and scooted back over next to Sara as she started the movie. Nick chuckled as it began, "'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', this is a good one."  
  
"Glad you like it." Sara replied laying her head on his shoulder and smiling.  
  
Nick smiled at her and put his arm around her shoulder. As the movie progressed, Sara snuggled closer to Nick and let her arms snake around his waist. Nick had both of his arms around her waist and her head was now resting on his chest. They fell asleep half way through the movie.  
  
When Catherine got up to check on them, she found them asleep. Nick was laying back into the corner of the sectional with one leg up on the couch the other resting on the floor. Sara lay against his chest with her arms around his waist, and her legs were sprawled out on the other part of the sectional. Nick's chin rested on top of Sara's head and his arms were wrapped around her waist. A sly smile crossed Catherine's lips. She really didn't want to wake them up, but she knew she needed to check on them.  
  
She grabbed a blanket pulled it over Sara. She stirred slightly opening her eyes for a moment and in a sleepy whispery voice said, "Thanks, Catherine." She was asleep again as quickly as she had woken.  
  
Catherine grabbed another blanket and pulled it over Nick's legs. He squinted his eyes open slightly and smiled at Catherine, "Hey, Cath."  
  
She grinned at him, "Hey, Nicky. How are you feeling?"  
  
"Good." He whispered and closed his eyes as he went back to sleep, his arms still securely around Sara.  
  
Catherine grinned. She turned the TV off and made her way back to her bedroom. She was sure they'd be fine until it was time to get up for shift. 


	15. Waking Up

Nick woke and smiled when he realized that Sara still slept against his chest. He couldn't resist stroking her hair with his fingertips as he watched her sleep. Nick smiled, she was beautiful when she slept. Her lips were slightly pouty and he found that endearing. He longed to taste her lips with his own, but he wanted their first kiss to be memorable, and more importantly, not interrupted the way their two attempts had been earlier that day. His fingers moved from her hair to lightly trace the contusion on her forehead. The color had changed somewhat and the knot was less pronounced.  
  
Sara wrinkled her brow at the tickling sensation she felt. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled as she realized it was Nick's fingers she felt and that she was still resting against his chest.  
  
It took a moment before their eyes connected.  
  
"Hi, Sara. How did you sleep?" Nick asked, now tracing the features of her face with his fingertips.  
  
She grinned at him, "Amazing."  
  
Nick returned her grin with a 100 watt smile of his own.  
  
Sara noticed the blanket over her, "Did Catherine do this?"  
  
Nick nodded, "I have a vague recollection of her checking on us and covering me up with a blanket. I think she turned the TV off too." He gestured toward the TV.  
  
Sara closed her eyes and allowed herself to relish in being close to Nick, "I guess she probably thinks there's something going on between us."  
  
Nick chuckled slightly, "Yeah, I think you're right. And I haven't even gotten to kiss you yet."  
  
Sara smiled, "I think that can be arranged." She moved her arms from around his waist and allowed them to rest on his chest as she looked into his eyes.  
  
Nick's arms tightened around Sara's waist, "She'll probably walk in and catch us."  
  
Sara looked at him with an amused smile, "Do you care?"  
  
Nick smiled with raised eyebrows, "No, do you?"  
  
Sara shook her head and focused on his lips. "No."  
  
Nick grinned and reached up and caressed the side of her face with his fingers, "Well then." He slid his fingers into Sara's hair and pulled her toward him. She slid a hand up to the base of his neck and ran her fingertips through his short hair. Her other hand rested on his chest.  
  
Their lips met softly and it felt like electricity had course through them.  
  
As they broke apart, all Nick could utter as he gazed into Sara's eyes was, "Wow."  
  
She grinned at him and whispered, "I know."  
  
Nick smiled and pulled Sara back in for another kiss. Between kisses, he said, "I've.wanted.to.do.that.for.quite.a.while."  
  
Sara smiled, "Me too."  
  
Catherine cleared her throat, causing Nick and Sara to look up at her standing there in the hallway with a sly grin on her face, "Well it took you two long enough." 


	16. DNA

Catherine, Nick, and Sara walked into the break room. They were the first ones there and they made their way over to grab coffee.  
  
Catherine wrinkled her nose as she smelled the small amount of coffee left in the pot, "I think this swill is left over from day shift."  
  
Just then Greg breezed in, "Never fear, I've got a new bag of coffee. It's a special blend of South American beans with a hint of deeper rich African tones."  
  
"If you can guarantee we'll never be without your coffee, I'll tell Grissom he needs to give you a raise," Catherine grinned at Greg.  
  
"You're in a good mood, Catherine." Greg smiled at her. He looked at Nick and Sara who just smiled at him. "Your heads look better today."  
  
"Thanks, Greggo." Sara commented, "Anything new on our foreign DNA?"  
  
"I'm glad you asked, Sara. No. But then I haven't been in the lab yet, so I haven't been able to recheck CODIS." Greg answered. "So, did you have fun partying at Catherine's?"  
  
"Greg, we did not party at Catherine's." Nick raised an eyebrow at Greg as he spoke.  
  
Sara gave him an amused grin.  
  
"Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss out on anything." Greg continued as he made the coffee.  
  
"Just in time I see." Warrick breezed into the break room.  
  
"Hey, Warrick," Catherine greeted with a sly smile on her face.  
  
Warrick took it in and glanced over at Nick and Sara. He looked back at Catherine and she raised an eyebrow with a sly smile. He smiled, knowing she'd fill him in later.  
  
"Ok, Greg's special blend is ready for the tasting." Greg poured himself a cup of coffee and made his way to the table.  
  
Sara grabbed a cup and poured coffee into it before handing it to Nick. She grabbed another and filled it up and handed it to Catherine. She grabbed a third cup and filled it before giving it to Warrick. Finally, she got herself a cup and filled it up.  
  
The rest of the CSIs looked at each other and smirked before thanking Sara.  
  
"Where's Grissom?" Warrick asked.  
  
"Right here," Grissom walked in and got himself a cup of coffee before joining the group at the table.  
  
"Got our assignments?" Nick inquired.  
  
Grissom's eyebrows arched as he replied, "Yes, you and Sara are still on the Vargas case. Your head looks better. Catherine and Warrick, follow up the case you were working on yesterday. I'll provide back up wherever needed."  
  
The group finished their coffee and then headed toward their respective assignments. Nick and Sara went to the evidence room to go over what they had collected from the scene once again and see if they could see anything new. They spread everything out in one of the layout rooms.  
  
Each time one of them caught the other's eye, they grinned. After about an hour, Nick walked over and stood next to Sara. He cleared his throat.  
  
"Hey, Sara." Nick smiled at her.  
  
"Yeah, Nick?" Sara responded with a smile as she looked at him.  
  
Nick grinned at Sara, "Would you like to go out on a date?"  
  
A mischievous grin crossed Sara's face, "With who?" She traced the buttons on his shirt with one of her fingers.  
  
Nick chuckled and grinned back, "Well, I don't think Mel Gibson is available, so I was hoping you'd go out with me."  
  
Sara grinned flirtatiously, "I'll go out with you, Mr. Stokes, but on one condition."  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow, "And what's that, Ms. Sidle?" He reached over and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.  
  
"No country music." Sara tried to stifle a laugh.  
  
Nick tried to act hurt and suppressed a grin, "That hurts. Country music has a bad rap. But seeing as how I really want to take Sara Sidle on a date, there will be no country music on our date." His fingers caressed her shoulder.  
  
Sara grinned at him.  
  
Greg walked into the layout room, "I found something interesting you both might want to see."  
  
Noticing that Greg didn't make and quips about their close proximity, and that he wore a serious expression on his face, Nick and Sara followed him without question down to the DNA lab.  
  
"Since CODIS wasn't spitting out anything, I thought I'd take a different route. I compared the foreign DNA to our known DNA donors. It came up with something very interesting. The DNA belongs to someone who is related to Dr. Vargas."  
  
Nick and Sara exchanged a look of shock and then looked back at Greg.  
  
"And, someone related to Delia Herrera." Greg continued. "It appears that Delia Herrera is a first degree relative of Dr. Vargas, as well as a first degree relative to our DNA donor."  
  
"Delia Herrera said she didn't have any relatives in this country." Sara had an expression on her face that was somewhere between confused and angry.  
  
"I'll call Brass, you call Grissom." Nick replied pulling his cell phone from his belt and punching in the number for Jim Brass. 


	17. Catherine and Warrick

Catherine and Warrick were on their way to meet Detective Vega for some follow up on the scene they had processed the night before.  
  
As soon as they were in the Tahoe, Warrick turned to Catherine, "Ok, Cath, spill it. What happened?"  
  
Catherine grinned, "Well, Warrick, I don't think we need to worry about giving them a little push."  
  
Warrick's eyebrows shot up, "Really."  
  
Catherine nodded, "When I got up to check on them, they were a little cozy."  
  
A wry grin crossed Warrick's face, "Exactly what do you mean by cozy?"  
  
"Sara was pretty much sleeping on Nick, and he didn't seem to mind." Catherine continued bluntly.  
  
A slight look of bewilderment crossed Warrick's face, "That sly dog, and here I thought he needed a little help."  
  
Catherine chuckled, "There's more."  
  
Warrick shot a look of confusion toward Catherine, "They weren't."  
  
Catherine shook her head, "I don't think either of them are that stupid."  
  
A smile crossed Warrick's face, "What then?"  
  
"When I got up to get ready for shift, I caught them making out on my couch." Catherine grinned.  
  
"This is gonna be fun." Warrick grinned in return.  
  
A look that could only be described as Catherine crossed her face, "One problem, Warrick."  
  
"What's that?" A look of confusion crossed Warrick's face.  
  
"They didn't seem to care that I caught them." She concluded.  
  
A bemused grin crossed Warrick's face, "Ooh."  
  
"Yeah," Catherine agreed smiling. 


	18. First Degree Relatives

Nick punched the number for Jim Brass into his cell phone. "Brass, it's Nick. Hey, listen, we've got a development in the Vargas case. No, we haven't identified a suspect per se, however, Sanders tested the mystery DNA from the pillowcase against our known DNA from the scene and came up with something interesting. Well our mystery donor is a first degree relative of both Dr. Vargas and Ms. Herrera. Something like that. Yeah, I thought you might think so. Ok. Sara and I will meet you there in about 20 minutes."  
  
He hit the end button on his cell phone and looked up at Greg who was still standing there, "Thanks, Greg."  
  
"That's what I do," Greg replied smiling.  
  
Nick turned to head out in search of Sara, who had gone in search of Grissom to relay the news to him. Before he could get out the door, Greg queried, "So, Nick, you and Sara seemed a little cozy there in the layout room a few minutes ago." His expression was conspiratorial and indicated he'd like a little more information.  
  
Nick suppressed a grin as he walked out into the hallway, "Not that it's any of your business, Sanders."  
  
"Ouch," Greg replied, his expression curious.  
  
Nick found Sara standing in the doorway of Grissom's office. He placed a hand on her back to announce his presence to her. She turned her head toward him and gave a slight smile, her frustration still evident. He smiled back.  
  
Grissom looked at Nick, "Sara tells me you've got a new development." Grissom sat there waiting for a response from Nick.  
  
Nick replied, "I called Brass, he's going to bring Dr. Vargas and Ms. Herrera back in for questioning." He looked at Sara, "We're meeting him there in 20 minutes." He looked back over at Grissom, "Hey, Gris, Sanders took the initiative on this one."  
  
Grissom smiled at Nick and then turned back to his work, "I'll keep that in mind, Nick."  
  
Nick turned toward Sara again, "Let's go meet Brass." His fingers grazed her back as he turned to leave.  
  
"I'll meet you in the parking lot, Nick. I have to get my jacket." She called after him and she also turned to leave Grissom's office.  
  
"Ok," Nick called back over his shoulder as he headed outside. His steps were purposeful and he was concentrating on the information they'd received, trying to figure out where it might be taking them. He almost bumped into Warrick on his way out the door.  
  
"Hey, Nick, dude, watch where you're going," Warrick commented as he dodged the door.  
  
An apologetic look crossed his face, "Sorry, War. I was just thinking about this case."  
  
An amused look crossed Warrick's face, "Are you sure you didn't have Sara on the mind?"  
  
Nick tried unsuccessfully to suppress a grin, "And just what do you know about that, Warrick?"  
  
Catherine walked up and joined them, "Hey, Nicky." She flashed him an amused smile.  
  
Warrick just laughed.  
  
"I think I know." Nick grinned. "Hey, Catherine, been talking to Warrick I see."  
  
Catherine just grinned, "Come on, you didn't think you could get away with making out with Sara in my living room and not have anyone know about it, did you?"  
  
Nick chuckled, "Thanks, Cath."  
  
Sara had grabbed her jacket and came through the doors just at the tail end of Catherine's comment. She smirked at Warrick and Catherine and chose to ignore the conversation, instead turning to Nick, "Ready to go meet Brass?"  
  
He turned to her, "Yeah."  
  
Catherine looked at them quizzically, "New development on the case?" Warrick looked on with interest.  
  
Nick nodded, "Yeah, Greg wasn't getting anything out of CODIS, so he took a little initiative and compared the mystery DNA to the known DNA from the crime scene. Whoever it is, is a first degree relative of Dr. Vargas and Ms. Herrera."  
  
Catherine's jaw dropped slightly, "Mind if I come along?"  
  
"Be my guest, you interviewed them both in the first place, but you might want to get an ok from Grissom since he put us a primary on the case." Nick replied.  
  
Catherine looked over at Warrick, "I'll dial, you drive." She pulled out her cell phone and began to punch in Grissom's number.  
  
Warrick took the keys from Catherine and headed toward the Tahoe they had just parked and followed Nick and Sara toward LVPD Headquarters where Brass would be bringing Dr. Vargas and Delia Herrera in for questioning. 


	19. Waiting for Brass

Nick turned the Tahoe in the direction of the LVPD Headquarters. It was short drive from the CSI Lab. Sara was seated in the passenger seat, and Warrick and Catherine followed behind in another Tahoe.  
  
"Hey, Nick?" Sara queried.  
  
Nick smiled at her, "Yeah, Sara?"  
  
"We never did finish our conversation in the layout room." She had a sparkle in her eyes and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.  
  
Nick grinned, "Yeah, and Sanders tried to give me the third degree too, however, he needs to hone his interrogation skills."  
  
Sara laughed, "So when are you going to take me on this date?"  
  
"Are we a little anxious, Ms. Sidle?" Nick teased.  
  
Sara slapped at his arm, "There goes that Stokes ego again."  
  
He suppressed a grin, "How could my ego not be inflated when the lovely Sara Sidle has agreed to go out with me?"  
  
Sara blushed.  
  
They pulled into the parking lot at LVPD Headquarters and got out of the Tahoe. Along with Warrick and Catherine, they walked in to wait for Brass to arrive with Dr. Vargas and Ms. Herrera.  
  
As they waited for Brass to arrive, Warrick with an amused smile on his face queried Sara, "So, Sara, how's your love life?"  
  
Sara blushed slightly and suppressed a grin, "Well, Warrick, you wouldn't be asking if you didn't already know." She glanced over at Nick who chuckled.  
  
Warrick glanced from Sara to Nick and back to Sara again, "You two aren't going to make this any fun for me are you?"  
  
In his distinctive Texas drawl, Nick replied, "Why should we? I asked Sara to go out with me and she has kindly consented. No big secrets there."  
  
"Well, it's about time, we thought we were going to have to give you two a shove to get you together." Warrick commented in return glancing at Catherine who wore a smirk on her face.  
  
Nick glanced at Sara and then looked over at Warrick and Catherine with an eyebrow raised, "No shove needed. And for the record, if you two hadn't kept interrupting, I could have kissed Sara a lot sooner."  
  
"Um, could we refocus on the case here. While it's apparent that you two are aware that Nick kissed me in Catherine's living room, I don't think the entire LVPD needs to know, ok." Sara looked at bit flustered, but gave Nick a subdued grin.  
  
He flashed her a smile and then turned to Warrick and Catherine, "Let's have some respect for the lady's wishes, ok?" He turned toward Sara again, "Oh, and, Sara, to finish our conversation, how does Saturday evening work for you? I think we're both off the schedule that night."  
  
Sara smiled, "It's a date, Nicky."  
  
Warrick and Catherine shared a bemused smile.  
  
Brass arrived with Dr. Vargas and Ms. Herrera. He had an officer show them into separate interrogation rooms as he made his way over to the group of CSIs. "What, Grissom couldn't come out and play too?" He smiled sardonically.  
  
"He wasn't invited to the party," Catherine replied conspiratorially. "Doesn't play well with others."  
  
Nick chuckled, "Catherine did the initial interview, she wanted to be here. In fact, I think she should be the CSI in there with you, Brass. We'll be eyes and ears behind the glass."  
  
Brass nodded and Catherine flashed Nick a grin as she followed, "Thanks, Nicky."  
  
Sara looked over at Nick, "Good plan, Stokes."  
  
"Don't think that just because you greased Catherine that I'm not going to give you a hard time for this, you two." Warrick grinned as they made their way behind the interrogation glass.  
  
"Wouldn't expect anything less from you, War." Nick replied with an unfazed expression on his face.  
  
Warrick leaned over and whispered to Sara, "If he does anything to hurt you, let me know, I'll kick his sorry ass."  
  
Sara grinned.  
  
"I heard that." Nick commented.  
  
"Hey, guys, let's try and pay attention here. This is a murder investigation." Sara interjected, still grinning. 


	20. A Suspect

Brass began with Delia Herrera, "Ms. Herrera, we've had an interesting development in this case and Ms. Willows here needs to ask you some additional questions."  
  
Delia nodded at Brass and turned her attention to Catherine.  
  
"Ms. Herrera, are you familiar with DNA fingerprinting?"  
  
Delia shook her head, "No. What is it?"  
  
Catherine shot Brass a look, "DNA is in every cell of your body. With the exception of identical twins, no two people on the planet have the same DNA. Half of your DNA comes from your mother, and half of it comes from your father, so we can also determine close relatives of individuals based on their DNA profiles. Does that make sense?"  
  
"Yes," Delia nodded, "I had no idea."  
  
Catherine sat down at the table across from Delia, "Ms. Herrera, I need to ask you some questions, and you may have answered some of them before, but I need you to answer them anyway."  
  
Delia nodded and glanced up at Brass who was leaning against the wall.  
  
Catherine continued, "Ms. Herrera, do you have any children?"  
  
The color began to drain from Delia's face.  
  
"We have reason to believe that you do." Catherine suggested.  
  
Delia looked into Catherine's eyes, "Ms. Willows, you're a mother, no?"  
  
Catherine gave her a half smile and nodded.  
  
"No one in this country knows this, but I had a son. I gave him up for adoption." Delia's eyes were misting.  
  
Brass interjected, "That son is Dr. Vargas, isn't he?"  
  
Tears began streaming down her face as she nodded, "Yes, we found each other on the internet."  
  
Brass continued, "One thing I don't understand, why did you pose as his housekeeper? Did Mrs. Vargas know?"  
  
Catherine handed Delia a Kleenex, "It's ok."  
  
Delia continued, "We didn't want him to find me." She started sobbing.  
  
"Didn't want who to find you?" Catherine looked quizzically at Brass.  
  
Delia couldn't answer through her sobs.  
  
"The father?" Catherine queried.  
  
Delia nodded.  
  
"Who is the father, Ms. Herrera?" Catherine pushed.  
  
Delia looked up at Catherine and over at Brass before she answered, "My brother, Victor Hernadez. He raped me. When he found out I was pregnant he forced me to give him up for adoption. He told me if I ever searched for Antonio or told anyone, he would come after me and kill me."  
  
Catherine reached over and gripped Delia's hand, "It's ok, Ms. Herrera, we're going to find him."  
  
Brass gestured to one of his officers and had them show Dr. Vargas in.  
  
Dr. Vargas looked at Delia and she nodded, "Madre?"  
  
"Antonio, it was Victor. He killed Isabel. I didn't know until they told me about this DNA." Delia explained as she dissolved into tears. Dr. Vargas took her into his arms and just held her as she cried.  
  
"Dr. Vargas, Ms. Herrera, with your consent, we're going to put you into protective custody until we locate Mr. Hernandez." Brass stated.  
  
They nodded and Brass had the officer who had brought Dr. Vargas into the room lead them out.  
  
"Sick bastard," Catherine commented, "That poor woman, all these years living with that."  
  
"That's why we do what we do, Catherine. Put the bad guys in jail." Brass replied with a slight smile."  
  
"Let's go find his ass." Catherine quipped in response.  
  
Behind the two way glass, Warrick, Nick, and Sara took in the interview with interest. Nothing really shocked them anymore. As premiere crime scene investigators, they had seem almost anything that Sin City could offer. And it had offered the worst that people could dish out.  
  
Warrick moved toward the door, "I'll see you guys back at the lab."  
  
"Right behind you, Bro." Nick called out.  
  
"Bye, Warrick." Sara waved.  
  
Nick turned to Sara, "Hey, Sar, wanna get breakfast after shift?"  
  
She smiled, "Sure, but I think maybe we ought to invite the rest of the team, especially Greg, to celebrate breaking the case."  
  
Nick grinned at her, "See, that's why I like you, Sara Sidle, you're smart and beautiful."  
  
Sara grinned mischievously, "You're only saying that because it's true." She winked at him and headed out the door toward the parking lot.  
  
He grinned and followed. 


	21. Discussing the Case

Nick, Sara, Warrick, and Catherine made their way back to the lab. The reconvened in the break room to discuss the interview of Delia Herrera.  
  
Catherine took a look at the coffee pot to see how fresh the contents were, "Anyone want to place bets on how old this is?"  
  
Nick grinned in reply, "If it's cold, it's old."  
  
Catherine smirked at him, "Did you learn that in college, Nicky boy?"  
  
He waggled his eyebrows at he sat at the table in the center of the room where Warrick and Sara were already seated, "And a few other things too."  
  
Warrick chuckled, "Besides Sara I don't think the rest of us are interested in your extra curricular activities from college, Nick."  
  
Nick grinned and reached for an apple that was sitting in a bowl in the middle of the table and took a bite out of it, winking at Sara.  
  
The corners of her mouth were slightly upturned as she commented to Warrick, "Why would you think I'd be interested in Nick's extra curricular activities? I've never really understood football." She raised her eyebrows flirtatiously at Nick.  
  
"Now that we've established that Nick did things other than study in college, does anyone know where Greg keeps the good coffee?" Catherine inquired with a half smile.  
  
Greg walked in, "Ah, Catherine, all you need to do is ask, and I'm at your service. Your wish is my command." He winked suggestively.  
  
She rolled her eyes in response, "If you make coffee, I'll talk to Grissom about that raise."  
  
"Well I suppose that's a good start." He waggled his eyebrows.  
  
"Don't push your luck." Catherine smiled with a withering look.  
  
With that Greg extricated his coffee from it's hiding place and brewed a new pot.  
  
Grissom wandered in and looked around the room at his CSIs, "Doesn't anyone have any work to do?"  
  
Nick took another bite from his apple, "Cracked the case."  
  
"Do we have the suspect in custody?" Grissom inquired.  
  
"Not yet," Sara replied, "But we know who he is."  
  
Grissom looked at Warrick and Catherine, "What about you two?"  
  
"Wrapped up our case and went and helped Nick and Sara." Catherine replied.  
  
"Good work." Grissom's attention turned toward Greg's coffee, "Is that a new pot of coffee I smell?"  
  
Greg turned and grinned, "Yes, finest South American blend money can buy."  
  
"Grissom, I need to talk to you." Catherine stated her arms crossed.  
  
"Now?" Grissom replied.  
  
Catherine raised her eyebrows in response.  
  
"Ok." He said and then turned to the team, "Save me some coffee."  
  
Grissom followed Catherine toward his office.  
  
Warrick chuckled, "Boy, she's got him whooped and he doesn't even know it."  
  
Greg looked over at Warrick quizzically, "Is something going on with Grissom and Catherine?"  
  
Warrick, Nick, and Sara exchanged a glance before bursting into laughter.  
  
"What's so funny?" Greg inquired.  
  
"That's the million dollar question, Greggo." Finally Sara replied.  
  
Greg looked at Sara for a moment and then a mischievous grin crossed his face, "So, Sara, are you gonna tell me what's going on between you and Nicky?" He looked over at Nick who just shook his head and grinned.  
  
Warrick wore a bemused grin on his face and chuckled, "Sanders, don't you ever give up?"  
  
Sara looked at Nick for a moment and a devilish grin spread over her face, "I think it's more fun to make you wonder, Greggo. Is the coffee ready yet?"  
  
With a disappointed look, Greg replied, "Yeah." He pulled a cup down for himself and poured coffee into it before walking over to the table and sitting down at an empty chair.  
  
Sara got up to get herself some coffee, and Warrick and Nick followed suit. Noticing the guys behind her, she poured a cup and handed it to Warrick.  
  
Accepting the cup, Warrick smiled and sat back at the table, "Thanks, Sara."  
  
Pulling another cup down, she poured coffee into it and began to hand it to Nick, before he could take the cup, she pulled it back, "It's gonna cost you, Stokes." She grinned at him flirtatiously.  
  
Nick grinned and raised an eyebrow, "Oh, really? And what's the cost of a cup of coffee these days, Ms. Sidle?"  
  
Sara glanced around for a moment to make sure no one was walking by the break room. She winked at Nick and leaned toward him, "Oh, just one of these." Sara leaned in and kissed Nick softly on the lips.  
  
He smiled into the kiss, and then asked her as he broke it, "Do you accept deposits for future cups of coffee?"  
  
She grinned at him as she handed him the cup of coffee, "I think we might be able to work something out."  
  
Greg sat there, open mouthed at the exchange that had transpired in front of him. "Sara just kissed you." He mumbled to Nick.  
  
Nick sipped his coffee and looked over at Greg and grinned, "Sanders, you're very observant. Maybe someday you could be a CSI."  
  
Warrick chuckled at Greg's still bewildered expression, "Careful, Sanders, if you keep your mouth open like that, Grissom might have you start catching flies for him." 


	22. Coffee Break

Catherine and Grissom made their way to Grissom's office. Catherine closed the door behind them. Grissom turned and looked at her quizzically, "Catherine, what is so important that I couldn't get a cup of coffee first?"  
  
She gave him a half smile, "Sorry, Gil, you need to cut down on caffeine anyway."  
  
He rolled his eyes slightly.  
  
"Ok, here it is. I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but without Greg doing a little independent thinking here, we probably wouldn't even have a suspect at this point. I think you should think about talking to him about becoming a CSI, or at the very least, giving him a raise or a bonus or something." Catherine explained.  
  
Grissom lowered his glasses for a moment, "I'm aware of what he did, Catherine. Nick made a point to tell me. And I have noticed that he tends to take initiative. But working in the lab and working in the field are two different things."  
  
Catherine crossed her arms in front of her, "Preaching to the choir, Grissom."  
  
He raised his hand for a moment, "Just hear me out. I'm not questioning your ability to assess people here. I just think that maybe putting him in a few situations in the field before training him to be a CSI would be a good idea."  
  
Catherine grinned slightly, "So, you're not going to fight me on this?"  
  
Grissom smiled, "You have good instincts and I trust them, but I also don't want to lose the best lab person I have either."  
  
A serious expression crossed Catherine's face, "You have a good point there, Gil. But I do think that Greg deserves some sort of recognition for going above and beyond here. Without his actions, we might have had to put this case on hold. As it is, Brass has a warrant out for Victor Hernandez."  
  
Grissom's expression changed to a quizzical one, "Catherine, since when are you so interested in Greg's well being?"  
  
Catherine raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Since he brings the best coffee into this place and manages to keep it hidden from Ecklie and the rest of day shift."  
  
"Ok, I'll figure something out. I'll at least talk to him and see if he'd even be interested in training to be a CSI. Speaking of that coffee." With that he opened his office door and gestured toward the hallway toward the break room.  
  
Catherine walked through the door, "Ok, but you really should cut down on the caffeine."  
  
They made their way back to the break room and joined the rest of the group. Greg still had a slightly shell shocked expression on his face. Nick and Sara looked like the cat that swallowed the canary and Warrick just sat there and chuckled.  
  
Grissom took in the faces around the room, "Anyone want to clue me in on the joke?"  
  
"No joke, Gris." Nick replied, taking another sip from his coffee.  
  
Grissom had just poured himself a cup of coffee and was about to take a sip when Greg looked up at him and stuttered, "Sara kissed Nick."  
  
Grissom's eyebrows shot up and he sat his coffee cup down and looked over at Sara with a quizzical expression.  
  
Sara glanced at Nick and smiled smugly.  
  
"Sara? Nick?" Grissom queried.  
  
"Yeah, Gris." Sara replied, still smiling.  
  
"Are you two dating?" Grissom asked.  
  
Sara gave Nick a studied expression. He looked at her and smiled.  
  
Sara looked back at Grissom, "We haven't discussed that."  
  
Grissom looked over at Nick with an expression that seemed to demand an explanation.  
  
Nick let out a deep breath. "I asked Sara on a date. She said yes. We're going out Saturday night since neither of us is scheduled to work. We haven't gotten beyond that." Nick explained. Nick looked around the room at the other faces with a slightly annoyed look on his face, "Are you all done sticking your noses into our personal life, or do you need a play by play?" His gaze rested on Warrick.  
  
No one in the room looked at Nick except Sara who reached over and placed her hand on Nick's arm. He looked up at her and his expression softened. It suddenly dawned on the rest of the group how their prying must make Nick feel, especially after the Nigel Crane incident.  
  
Catherine finally looked at Nick, "Nick, I am so sorry."  
  
Nick's face betrayed a myriad of emotions, "Excuse me." He said softly and rushed out of the room.  
  
Sara stood there dumbfounded. She looked around the room and then without saying a word, followed after Nick who had headed up to the roof to be alone. 


	23. Apology

The sun had begun to peak over the horizon. Nick stood on the roof trying to fight back the tears that threatened to spill down his face. He had tried so hard to put Nigel Crane stalking him behind him, but here it was rearing its ugly head again. He heard the door to the roof open behind him and soft footsteps approaching him. A hand touched his shoulder and Sara's voice whispered, "Nick?"  
  
He could no longer keep the tears back. They began to spill down his cheeks. He tried to wipe the tears away with his fists.  
  
Sara, concerned etched on her face, stood in front of him and slipped her arms around his waist, making soothing noises and rubbing his back. "Nicky, it's gonna be ok. They didn't mean anything by it."  
  
Nick wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her body close to his, before dissolving into sobs. Sara held him like that for a while until his sobs tapered off. He released her from their embrace and then wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hands. "I'm sorry, Sara."  
  
She wrinkled her brow, "Nick, what do you have to be sorry for?" She took one of his hands in hers.  
  
Nick looked up at the sky, afraid that the tears might start again, "I didn't mean to make a big scene."  
  
Sara took one of Nick's hands in hers, "Nick, you didn't make a big scene. You were protecting your privacy and they've all been using interrogation techniques to find out information that is none of their business."  
  
Nick looked at her appreciatively, "I don't mind that they know I've asked you out, Sara. I don't even mind that they know I've kissed you. I really like you and I'm proud that you want to be seen with me outside of work. It's just that after Nigel Crane, I feel like I'm being smothered when people know too much about me, and it just felt like that back there."  
  
Sara smiled at him, "They just weren't thinking. They care about you, Nick. I care about you." Her free hand reached up and caressed his cheek.  
  
He smiled at her and cupped her hand with his, caressing her fingers. "I know."  
  
Nick leaned down and gently pressed his lips to Sara's in a soft sweet kiss. As they broke the kiss they both smiled as they looked at each other.  
  
"We should get back." Sara stated smiling.  
  
"Yeah," Nick agreed.  
  
They made their way back down to the break room. Catherine was the only one there when they returned. She looked up with a quizzical expression as Nick and Sara entered the room, "You ok, Nicky?"  
  
Nick smiled at her, "Yeah, I'm sorry for rushing out of here like that."  
  
Catherine stood up from where she was seated, "No, Nick, I'm sorry. We invaded your privacy. We should know better. What is between you and Sara is between you and Sara. It's not any of our business."  
  
"Thanks, Cath, I appreciate that. I just felt a little invaded that's all." Nick replied.  
  
"Where's the rest of the team?" Sara queried.  
  
"Warrick is working on paperwork from our case, Grissom's in his office, and Greg's back in the DNA lab. I stayed here to face the music." She gave Nick and Sara a lopsided grin. "I don't know who they're more afraid of facing, you or Sara."  
  
Nick chuckled, "My money's on Sara." He dodged as Sara swatted at his arm.  
  
Sara tried to suppress a grin, "It's nice to know all the men fear me."  
  
"Not this man." Nick replied grabbing her around the waist from behind and planting a kiss on her neck.  
  
Catherine raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her, "Well you're both going to fear Grissom if you make a habit of doing that at work."  
  
Nick had a sheepish express on his face as he released Sara.  
  
"Shift is over in an hour, do you think you can keep out of trouble until then?" Catherine queried as only a mother could.  
  
Sara tried to suppress a grin.  
  
"Good. Grissom's taking us all out to breakfast to congratulate Greg on helping break the Vargas case open." Catherine continued. "I'm going to find Warrick and see if he needs any help and I'll see you guys back here at the end of shift."  
  
With that, Catherine left the break room, in search of Warrick. Nick and Sara made their way to the layout room that they had the evidence from the Vargas case spread out in. They began placing the evidence back into the proper boxes so they could check it back into the evidence vault before they met the rest of the team for breakfast at the end of shift. 


	24. Plans

The team assembled at the diner down the street to celebrate the break in the Vargas case. Grissom made sure to let Greg know that his contribution and independent thinking had, in large part, made this possible. Catherine had let the rest of the group know that she had smoothed things out with Nick and Sara. With a nod of his head toward Nick, Warrick and he were back on firm ground. Grissom just let things slide, and Greg, well, he was just Greg.  
  
After the team returned to the lab, they went their separate ways. Grissom returned to his office for a meeting with Brass. Catherine went back in to wrap up some paperwork. Greg went home. Warrick mentioned something about heading out to the juvenile detention facility to check up on a young man he'd taken under his wing. Nick lingered by Sara's Tahoe, "So, Sara. Tomorrow's Saturday."  
  
"You're very observant, Nick. You'd make a great CSI." Sara teased.  
  
Nick grinned, "Actually, I'm already a great CSI according to the great Sara Sidle."  
  
She laughed as she leaned against the SUV, arms crossed in front of her.  
  
"How bout I pick you up about 6:00 tomorrow night." Nick suggested.  
  
Sara had a coy expression on her face, "Where are you taking me?"  
  
Nick leaned in toward her and winked, "Ah, that would take away the element of surprise."  
  
Sara cocked her head with a smile playing at the corners of her mouth, "What should I wear?"  
  
Nick leaned in and kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "A dress."  
  
Sara eyebrows raised in surprise, "Ok."  
  
Nick stepped back and grinned at her, "See you later, I've got to go in and grab some stuff out of my locker."  
  
Sara waved, "Ok." She got in her Tahoe and drove toward home feeling a bit panicked. A dress? Sara didn't own too many of those. She was going to have to take stock of her closet and see what she had.  
  
Nick headed back into the lab and made his way to the locker room. Catherine was gathering her things as he walked in. "Hey, Nicky."  
  
"Cath." Nick replied opening his locker.  
  
"So, if you don't mind me asking, where are you taking Sara on your date tomorrow?" Catherine smiled at the younger CSI.  
  
He grinned, "It's a surprise."  
  
"Did you tell her what to wear?" Catherine raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
He nodded, "A dress."  
  
Catherine chuckled, "Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to get a panicked phone call from Sara later?"  
  
Nick looked a bit perplexed.  
  
Smiling Catherine continued, "Nick, when was the last time you saw Sara wear a dress?"  
  
He looked sheepish.  
  
"My point exactly. Maybe I'll call her and we'll go shopping." Catherine suggested with a wry grin on her face. Seconds later, her cell phone rang. As she answered the phone, she gave Nick a knowing glance, "Willows. Hi, Sara."  
  
Nick grinned.  
  
"No. She's still at my sister's. Why? Oh, really. Hmm. Do you have to ask me twice?" Catherine chuckled. "Ok, I'll meet you at your apartment. We'll find something that'll make Nicky's jaw drop. Alright. Bye." Catherine grinned at Nick.  
  
Nick had a little color in his cheeks, "You know I'm not going to get any sleep now."  
  
Catherine laughed at him. "I'm going to meet Sara. I'll see you later, Nick." 


	25. Shopping

Sara looked panicked as she answered the door. In the few minutes it had taken Catherine to drive over to Sara's apartment, Sara had managed to empty the contents of her closet onto her bed, ruling out everything as an option to wear on her date with Nick. Catherine just smiled calmly and took charge. She assured Sara that they'd find something for her to wear at a decent price that would leave Nick speechless.  
  
They were in their third store of the day when Catherine found the dress. It was a simple black sheath dress. Cut just above the knee and sleeveless. A basic black dress, but on Sara it was stunning.  
  
Catherine smiled as Sara walked out of the dressing room, "Sara, he's going to beg you for mercy."  
  
Sara looked at herself in the three-way mirror, "You think so?"  
  
Catherine deadpanned, "Yeah."  
  
Sara smiled as she looked at the dress, "Ok, I'll take your word on it."  
  
They purchased the dress and went in search of shoes. Two hours later, they had finished shopping and were headed back toward Sara's apartment.  
  
"Thanks, Catherine. I don't know what I would have worn otherwise." Sara said gratefully.  
  
Catherine grinned, "Just make sure to tell me how he likes the dress."  
  
Catherine dropped Sara off and then headed home. They only had a few hours to catch some sleep and head back to work. 


	26. Sleepless in Vegas

Nick looked like he'd had no sleep when he pulled himself into work that evening. He had kept himself awake all day thinking about the dress Catherine was going to help Sara pick out. It wasn't that he didn't try and sleep, it just would not come. So here he was pouring a cup of coffee, hoping it would help him make it through shift when Catherine walked in.  
  
Catherine took one look at Nick and chuckled, "I take it your imagination has been working overtime, Nick."  
  
Nick looked over at Catherine as he took a sip of his coffee and narrowed his eyes in a playful manner, "You are an evil woman, Catherine Willows. Planting thoughts of Sara in a sexy dress in my head."  
  
"You love it and you know it." Catherine grinned wryly in response.  
  
Warrick sauntered in, "Nick, man, you look like hell."  
  
Nick grinned, "It's Catherine's fault."  
  
Warrick raised his eyebrows in response, "Oh, really?"  
  
In a conspiratorial tone, Catherine responded, "Apparently, I planted thoughts of Sara in his mind."  
  
Warrick burst out laughing, "Dude, I don't think you can pin that one on Catherine."  
  
A wry grin crossed Nick's face, "She left out an important detail. Didn't you Catherine?" Nick looked over at Catherine very pointedly.  
  
She grinned, "Ok, so I told him I was going to help Sara pick out a dress for their date that would make his jaw drop."  
  
Warrick grinned, "Catherine Willows, you are an evil woman."  
  
Catherine just kept grinning, "You should see the dress."  
  
Greg walked in hoping there was still some coffee left of the pot he'd brewed an hour before, "What dress is that, Catherine?" He waggled his eyebrows at her.  
  
Warrick finished his sip of coffee and answered for her, "She helped Sara pick out a dress to wear on her date with Nick tomorrow night."  
  
Greg looked over at Nick, "Where are you taking her, Nick my man?"  
  
Nick looked up from his coffee, "Somewhere that wearing a dress is appropriate." He took another sip from his coffee cup.  
  
"Ooh. Mystery. A beautiful woman in a sexy dress. Sounds hot." Greg replied a bit too dramatically.  
  
Nick rolled his eyes.  
  
Grissom walked in with Sara on his heals. Sara glanced at Nick and a smile tugged at her lips. Nick's eyes met hers and a grin spread across his face. Catherine and Warrick exchanged a conspiratorial glance.  
  
"Brass has a line on where your suspect is," Grissom indicated to Nick and Sara. "As soon as he gets the go ahead from his uniforms that the suspect is there, he's going to page you. Stay here and catch up on paperwork until you hear from him. Warrick and Catherine, I need you to head out to the Bellagio. Suspicious death in one of the luxury suites. Greg, I'm going to give you a chance for a little field work. We've got a decomp in the desert."  
  
With that, shift began and the CSIs went off on their respective assignments. Nick and Sara lingered in the break room. Sara looked over at Nick, taking in his tired appearance with a bit of concern, "You doing ok, Nick?"  
  
He nodded, "I just didn't get a lot of sleep."  
  
She walked over to him and put her hand on his arm, searching his face, "What's up?"  
  
Nick tried to be evasive, "I had a lot on my mind."  
  
"Like what?" Sara looked at him intently.  
  
He looked into her eyes and reached over to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear, "I couldn't stop thinking about you. Catherine told me she was going shopping with you for a dress."  
  
An amused expression crossed Sara's face, "I didn't know I had such power over you."  
  
Nick grinned.  
  
Simultaneously, their pagers went off, "Brass." Nick stated, "I'll drive, you dial."  
  
Sara called Brass to get details on the location and they headed off to meet him. 


	27. An Arrest

They met Brass in an older part of Vegas. The apartment house was run down and tired looking. When it was new back in the mid sixties, there was probably a hip flair to it, but now, it just cried out to be torn down. The CSIs exited the Tahoe and joined Brass behind his Taurus.  
  
Brass whispered to Nick and Sara, "Neighbor says they think he has a gun. Keep back behind your Tahoe until I give the go ahead. I don't need the shoot out at the OK Corral." Brass gave them a wry smile.  
  
Several officers wearing Kevlar vests and other SWAT gear flanked the building. A loud knock was made at the door of the suspect's apartment, "LVPD! Open up!"  
  
A stream of Spanish curses could be heard emanating from the apartment. Brass cast a glance over at Nick and Sara, "Sounds like a real nice guy, don't you think?"  
  
The only way in or out of the apartment was through the front. Apartments flanked both sides and the rear. Guns were trained on the door and windows of the apartment as the officer made another attempt to get the suspect to open the door, "LVPD! Open up now!"  
  
More loud curses, this time in English, filtered out through a partially open window. Brass picked up his radio and instructed the officer nearest the door to back off and instructed another officer to fire in a canister of tear gas. The tear gas was fired through the front window in a shattering of glass. Several minutes later a muscular man approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall stumbled out of the apartment. Guns were trained on him. The officers ordered him to lay face down as they cuffed and frisked him. Two officers entered the apartment to ensure the scene was clear.  
  
"Well, we're going to have to sit here for a while until the tear gas dissipates." Nick commented.  
  
Sara looked over at him smiling, "Do you want to get the DNA sample, or do you want me to?"  
  
Nick grinned, "Ladies first." He gestured for her to follow after Brass who was questioning the suspect.  
  
Sara took a mouth swab and put the evidence in her kit. She took hair samples as well, and also took photos of the suspect's hands. Once she had finished processing him, she walked back over to Nick who had stood there watching her as she worked.  
  
"Brass says we should be able to enter the apartment in another ten minutes or so." Sara informed him smiling. They leaned against the Tahoe and chatted.  
  
Nick looked over at Sara with a curious expression, "So, Catherine says this dress of yours is pretty amazing."  
  
Sara chuckled, "You're just going to have to wait to see it, Nick."  
  
"If it's anything like I've imagined, I think I'm in trouble." Nick confessed with a grin as he looked at her.  
  
Sara blushed, "I still can't believe you couldn't sleep because you were thinking about me." She let out an embarrassed giggle.  
  
Nick took in the color in her cheeks with a bit of amusement and ran a finger down the side of her cheek, "Sara Sidle, do you have no idea how beautiful you are?"  
  
She looked over at him and cleared her throat, "I think we can go check out the scene now."  
  
Nick suppressed a chuckle, "Ok, let's go."  
  
They picked up their kits and entered the apartment. A faint smell of tear gas still permeating. It didn't take them long to process the tiny studio apartment. There wasn't much inside besides a fold out sofa and a discarded dining room chair next to a TV tray. There wasn't even a TV in the apartment. Once they completed processing the scene, they returned to the lab to enter what they had found into evidence.  
  
As they neared the DNA lab, they were surprised to find Greg back. Nick and Sara exchanged a curious glance as they entered to give Greg the samples. "Hey, Greg, I thought you were out in the field with Grissom," Sara queried.  
  
Greg looked up and took the samples she offered him, "Apparently, someone at dispatch was a little confused. There was a db in the desert, but of the Fido variety. Animal control took over."  
  
"Sorry your first case was a bust, man." Nick offered.  
  
Greg put on a smile, "Have no fear, I'll have your samples done in no time. I assume you want me to compare these to your mystery donor."  
  
"That's why you're the best." Nick smiled.  
  
"Would you page us when you're done, Greg." Sara asked pulling Nick out of the lab toward the break room.  
  
Greg smiled and bowed toward Sara, "Your wish is my command."  
  
A short time later, Nick and Sara were sitting next to each other on the couch in the break room sipping coffee when both of their pagers went off. Nick got to his first, "It's Greg with a 9-1-1."  
  
They made their way to the DNA lab and ran into Grissom who arrived at the doorway at the same time. Greg looked up at the CSIs converging on the lab, "I see you all got my page. The DNA is a perfect match to your mystery donor."  
  
Sighs of relief spread around the room. Nick pulled his cell phone off his belt and called Brass. "Brass. It's Nick. The DNA Sara took from Hernandez is a perfect match to our mystery donor. It puts him at the scene of Isabel Vargas' murder."  
  
Nick and Sara made their way over to meet Brass and to help with the interrogation of Victor Hernandez. When confronted with the forensic evidence, he confessed. They returned to the lab just as shift was coming to a close. Nick walked Sara to her Tahoe and they lingered there for a few minutes, neither wanting to be the first to leave.  
  
Nick grinned at Sara as he reached over and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, "Hey, Sar, I'm going to go home and get some sleep. I can't wait until our date tonight. I'm really looking forward to it."  
  
Sara grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze, "I'm looking forward to it to, Nick." She smiled at him.  
  
Nick pulled her into a hug and before he release her, he planted a soft kiss on her upturned lips. His fingers caressed her cheek as he stepped away. "See you later, Sar." He smiled as he walked over to his Tahoe. Sara just stood there grinning until Nick drove away. 


	28. The Date

Sara was nervous. She was going out on a date with Nick Stokes. The same Nick Stokes that she'd worked with for the last three years. Her pal Nick Stokes that she could talk to about almost anything. The Nick Stokes who delighted in teasing her. The Nick Stokes that she'd had a crush on since she'd first met him. And now, they were going out on a date. She tried to pull herself together. As it was, she'd changed her mind about how to wear her hair four times. She finally decide to just wear it straight with a bit of flip in it. Now makeup was another thing altogether. She didn't tend to wear a lot of it, but this was a special occasion. She didn't want to look like she was trying too hard. It was only Nick, but then again, it was Nick.  
  
Sara was ready. She had just put on a pair of diamond stud earrings that she'd gotten from her parents when she graduated from Harvard. A single diamond-like stone suspended from a silver chain completed the ensemble. She stepped back to take a look at herself in the mirror when she heard a knock at the door.  
  
She took a deep breath and walked over to look through the peep hole. A grin spread across her face as it revealed a nervous looking Nick. He wore black slacks, a deep blue button up shirt, with a black tie, and a black sport coat. As she opened the door, Nick looked up at her and his jaw dropped as he took in her appearance. The bouquet of flowers in his hand momentarily forgotten.  
  
As he stepped into her apartment he finally found the words that had eluded him just moments ago. He handed her the flowers and brushed his lips against her cheek, "Sara, you look gorgeous."  
  
Sara's heart flipped. She accepted the flowers from him and walked into her kitchen to find a vase to put them in. She was glad to have her attention averted from Nick for a moment. He was devastatingly handsome, and it was all she could do not to melt when she looked at him.  
  
She turned around after putting the flowers in water to find Nick looking at her with a grin on his face, "Sara, I mean it, you look amazing."  
  
Sara chuckled as she looked at him, "You look pretty good yourself."  
  
Nick offered her his hand, "Shall we go?"  
  
As Sara took his hand, she cast a sidelong glance at him, "Isn't that why you're here?"  
  
Nick chuckled, "Ok, Ms. Smarty Pants."  
  
They walked out to his Tahoe hand in hand, Nick caressed the back of her hand with his thumb. He opened the passenger side of the car and let Sara in before walking around to the other side of the SUV and sat behind the wheel.  
  
Sara looked over at him, "So where are you taking me on this date, Mr. Stokes?"  
  
Nick flashed her a grin as he started the ignition. Soft romantic music wafted through the speakers, "I think I'll keep you in suspense a while longer."  
  
As he drove, Nick reached over and took Sara's hand, their fingers lacing together. Sara smiled.  
  
They threaded their way through traffic and head toward the Strip. Nick pulled into the parking lot of the Stratosphere. As they exited the elevator into the entrance to the Top of the World restaurant, Nick stepped forward and grinned at the hostess, never letting go of Sara's hand, "I've got reservations, Stokes, party of two."  
  
As they were seated at the table, the hostess commented, "Everything's been taken care of as you requested, Mr. Stokes."  
  
Sara looked over at Nick with a quizzical expression on her face.  
  
Nick reached over and squeezed her hand, "I ordered when I made the reservations, I hope that's ok."  
  
She tried to suppress a grin, "Nick the view is amazing."  
  
He caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, "Yeah, it is isn't it?" She looked over at him to find him staring at her with a dopey grin on his face.  
  
Sara laughed, "Nick, we are pretty ridiculous. We've known each other for three years and we can't even carry on a normal conversation."  
  
Nick chuckled, "Yeah, I know. Forgive me, but I think I'm a bit smitten by the lovely Sara Sidle." He gave her a sheepish grin.  
  
Sara smiled at him, "I was thinking about tonight earlier when I was getting ready and I couldn't believe how nervous I was. I mean, I can talk to you about almost anything, and here I am nervous about being on a date with you."  
  
Nick squeezed Sara's hand, "I thought I was the only nervous one here."  
  
Sara shook her head a faint smile on her lips, "Let's just try and be normal, this is just us."  
  
Nick winked at her, "But you look amazing in that dress, Sara. Catherine was right."  
  
Sara giggled, "You should have seen the look on your face."  
  
Nick chuckled, "I guess I did lose my ability to speak there for a few minutes."  
  
Their first course came and as they began eating, they began to relax a bit more. The nervousness now gone, they began talking about anything and everything. Sara laughed as Nick shared stories of being the youngest of seven. By the time they finished their meal, a couple of hours had gone by. Nick paid the bill and they headed back to the Tahoe hand in hand.  
  
Sara smiled at Nick as he opened the door for her, "Nick, dinner was wonderful. Thank you." She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips before getting into the SUV.  
  
Nick could not erase the grin from his face as he got behind the wheel, "Ready for the next phase, Sara?"  
  
Sara teased, "Do I have a choice?"  
  
Nick shook his head, "No." He grinned at her and threaded the SUV through traffic toward a park on the edge of town. He pulled into the parking lot and turned off the engine.  
  
Sara gave him a curious look, but followed as he exited the vehicle. Hand in hand they walked along the path following other couples toward an area strung with lights. Soft music wafted along the evening breeze.  
  
Nick turned toward Sara, grinning, "I thought maybe we could do a little dancing."  
  
He led her onto a makeshift dance floor as a swing band began playing a slow number. He pulled her close and closed his eyes as he took in the scent that was Sara. His arms encircled her small waist. Sara smiled and slid her arms around Nick's neck, resting her head on his shoulder as they danced.  
  
She pulled back for a moment and looked up into his eyes, "Nick, this is nice."  
  
Nick grinned at her and reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered on her jaw, and he bent down and gently kissed her. They smiled at each other as they broke the kiss. Nick led her off the dance floor where they could be more alone.  
  
Nick's cell phone rang, breaking the moment. Noting the caller ID, he answered it gruffly, "Warrick, this had better be good!"  
  
The color drained from Nick's face and he looked over at Sara, "We'll be right there." He ended the call and managed to say, "Grissom was attacked by a suspect. He's at Desert Palm." 


	29. ER

Catherine and Warrick looked up as Nick and Sara walked hand in hand into the emergency room at Desert Palm hospital. Nick's jacket was draped over Sara's shoulders. As the couple approached, Nick asked in a worried voice, "How is he?" They took a seat across from Warrick and Catherine.  
  
"It's a good thing he has a hard head," Catherine quipped, her face betraying the sarcasm in her voice.  
  
Warrick went into more detail, "Grissom took Greg with him on another call. Greg entered the scene first and Grissom went in after him. The scene was supposed to be clear. The suspect swung at Greg with a fireplace poker. Grissom shoved Greg out of the way and caught it on the back of the head. He was out cold, but came to on the way to the hospital."  
  
Sara looked worried, "Where's Greg?"  
  
Nick squeezed her hand and looked at Warrick for more information.  
  
Warrick leaned his head back against the wall, "He's getting stitches in his arm. After the suspect hit Grissom, he went after Greg. By then, the officer who was supposed to have cleared the scene happened upon them and pulled his gun."  
  
Sara breathed a sigh of relief. Nick looked over at her and smiled, also feeling a bit more relieved. They both knew that it could have been so much worse. Nick caressed the back of Sara's hand with his thumb and she leaned her head against his shoulder.  
  
A small smile played at Catherine's lips, "So, Nick, what did you think of the dress?"  
  
A grin broke over Nick's face, but it was Sara who answered with an amused expression on her face, "He forgot how to talk Catherine."  
  
Warrick chuckled, glad to have something lighten the moment. He took in Sara's appearance and let out a low whistle, "I can see why. Damn, girl, you clean up good."  
  
Sara blushed. Nick turned to look at her grinning, "She is pretty gorgeous, isn't she?" He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
Catherine and Warrick exchanged a bemused glance.  
  
Greg emerged a few minutes later. The worried group of CSIs stood. Catherine stepped forward, "What did they say, Greg?"  
  
"Just a couple of stitches, I'll be fine in a couple of days. They're still working on Grissom's head. I'd hate to be the nurse in there right now." Greg grimaced at the thought.  
  
Catherine deadpanned, "Let me guess, he's being an ideal patient. Glad you're ok, Greg."  
  
"Thanks, Catherine." Greg looked over at Nick and Sara, noting their intertwined fingers. "Didn't mean to interrupt your date. Ooh, Sara, you look hot." He winked at her.  
  
Sara grinned at Greg, "I'm glad you're ok."  
  
Nick nodded, "Yeah, don't want to lose our best lab tech turned CSI." In a conspiratorial tone Nick leaned toward Greg and grinned, whispering loudly, "She is hot, isn't she?"  
  
A middle aged doctor emerged in search of Greg, "Mr. Sanders, here is your prescription for your pain pills."  
  
"Thanks, Doc." Greg replied.  
  
Sara read the name tag of the doctor, "Dr. Smith? How is Mr. Grissom?"  
  
Dr. Smith took in the group standing around Greg, "He's got a bit of a concussion, but he's pretty lucky. He's getting stitches right now, and we're going to keep him overnight for observation, but he's lucky."  
  
Catherine breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank, God." She hadn't realized how worried she'd been. Nick squeezed her shoulder with concern.  
  
The doctor left leaving the CSIs alone in the waiting area. Warrick cleared his throat and looked over at Nick for a moment, silently communicating with his friend. He then turned to Greg, "Why don't I take you home, Greg."  
  
"I am pretty tired," Greg admitted.  
  
Nick turned to Catherine, "Hey, Catherine, Sara and I will stay here with you until you can see Grissom, then we'll take you home, ok."  
  
She smiled gratefully and nodded.  
  
Greg left with Warrick and the remaining trio settled into the chairs in the waiting area. Nick had his arm around Sara's shoulder and she had wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head on his shoulder before dozing off.  
  
Catherine smiled over at Nick, "Where did you take her, Nicky?"  
  
A grin spread across Nick's face, "Top of the World for dinner. Then we went dancing at one of those music in the park nights. It was really nice."  
  
Catherine grinned, "If you were a little older, Nicky, I snatch you up myself."  
  
Nick chuckled. Dr. Smith returned to the waiting area, "Mr. Grissom can have a visitor. We're getting ready to move him up to a room."  
  
Nick gestured to Catherine, "I'll stay here with Sara." A satisfied expression was on his face as he held a sleeping Sara in his arms.  
  
Catherine smiled, "Thanks, Nick." 


	30. Time to Go

"I see you're being an ideal patient," Catherine remarked with a smirk as she walked into the exam room Grissom was in.  
  
He looked up at her with a grimace on his face, "They want to keep me for observation."  
  
"Gil, you're lucky he didn't kill you." She raised an eyebrow at him. Her expression softened, "How are you feeling."  
  
A half smile spread across his face, "Like I've been hit in the head with a fireplace poker. How's Greg?"  
  
"Warrick took him home. He had a couple of stitches in his arm, but he's ok." She answered leaning on the edge of the bed.  
  
Grissom looked at her quizzically, "How are you getting home?"  
  
She smiled at him, "Nick and Sara."  
  
A surprised look crossed his face, "I thought they were on a date."  
  
She patted his arm, "They were. Warrick called them and they came down. They were worried about you."  
  
"Where are they?" Grissom inquired.  
  
Catherine gestured toward the waiting area, "Sara fell asleep on Nick's shoulder."  
  
Grissom closed his eyes and rubbed his temple with his hand, "Who'd you leave in charge?"  
  
Catherine let out a sigh, "Don't worry about it. Brass has things under control. I'm going to take off. You need to get some rest. I'll pick you up when they release you. Try not to give the nurses a hard time, ok." She grinned at him.  
  
He opened his eyes to protest and noticed the teasing in her eyes, "Ok, Cath."  
  
With that she headed back out into the waiting area.  
  
Nick stroked Sara's hair as she dozed. He smiled as he watched her sleep against him. He felt like the luckiest man alive that she had consented to go on a date with him. And that dress, oh, how that dress did things to him. Actually, if he was honest, it did things to Sara, that did things to him. He chuckled and kissed Sara's hair. He heard someone clear their throat and he looked up to see Catherine grinning at him Nick asked, "How's he doing?"  
  
"He's giving the nurses one hell of a time, but he'll be fine." Catherine gestured toward Sara, "you two look good together." She smiled at him.  
  
Nick beamed.  
  
Sara stirred and sat up groggily, "What did I miss?" She looked over at Catherine, "How's Grissom?" She let out a yawn.  
  
"He'll be fine." She stated.  
  
Sara looked over at Nick and couldn't help but smile. She noticed his rumpled shirt where her head had been and she reached over to smooth it out, "Sorry about your shirt, Nick."  
  
He took her hand and smiled at her, "It's ok. Hey, I should get you home, Sleeping Beauty, before your coach turns into a pumpkin."  
  
Sara glanced up at Catherine for a moment and then back at Nick and giggled, "Cinderella had the pumpkin, Nicky."  
  
Nick chuckled and stood, pulling Sara with him. He glanced over at Catherine, "Shall we go. I'll drop you off at home."  
  
Catherine had a wry grin on her face, "Actually, you can drop me back at the lab. My Tahoe is there."  
  
"Alright then." Nick replied. The trio headed out of the emergency room and out to Nick's Tahoe.  
  
After they dropped Catherine off at the lab, Nick headed toward Sara's apartment. He pulled into the lot and turned off the engine. Nick and Sara walked to her door hand in hand. When they reached the door, Sara turned to Nick, "I really had a nice time tonight."  
  
Nick grinned at her and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, "Me too. You look beautiful."  
  
Sara fingered his tie, "You look pretty handsome yourself."  
  
Nick leaned down and tenderly kissed her. Sara slid her arms up his chest and around his neck, pulling him closer. Nick slid his arms around her waist, pulling her snugly against him. As they broke the kiss, Sara looked up at Nick, "I just wish we could have danced a little longer."  
  
Nick smiled at her and whispered, resting his forehead against hers, "Me too."  
  
Sara stepped out of his embrace to pull her keys out of her purse. "Do you want to come in for a little while? Watch a movie or something?" She asked, cocking her head slightly.  
  
"Sure." Nick replied with a smile, glad that the evening didn't have to come to a close quite yet.  
  
Sara led them into the apartment and immediately kicked off her heels, "You know, I think these kind of shoes were invented by men." She had a bemused smile on her face.  
  
Nick chuckled, "You're probably right."  
  
She headed into the kitchen, "Want anything to eat?"  
  
Nick thought for a moment and then nodded, "I guess it has been a while since we had dinner. I am kind of hungry."  
  
Sara took stock of what was in her cupboards and then looked over at Nick with an embarrassed smile on her face, "How do you feel about popcorn?"  
  
Nick leaned his arms on the counter, watching her, "I like popcorn."  
  
She grinned, "Good, because that's about all I have."  
  
Nick just shook his head and laughed.  
  
Sara put some popcorn in the microwave and opened the refrigerator. She looked over at Nick, "Water, Coke, or soy milk?"  
  
"Coke," Nick stated decisively, cringing at the thought of drinking soy milk on purpose.  
  
The microwave indicated that the popcorn was done. Sara grabbed two Cokes and the popcorn and beckoned Nick to follow her to the couch. Sara reached for the remote and turned on the TV. They decided on a 'Bugs Bunny' marathon on the cartoon network that they happened upon while they were flipping channels. As they settled into the couch, Nick put his arm around Sara. She turned to him with a grin on her face, "Nick, you really need to lose the tie." She reached up and loosened the tie, pulling it out of it's knot and pulling it out from under his collar.  
  
As they watched the cartoons, they laughed and relaxed. A while later, Sara tried to throw popcorn into Nick's mouth, but it ended up turning into a full scale popcorn fight. Several kernels managed to find their way down the front of Sara's dress. She stood up, trying to shake the popcorn out of her dress with no success and then looked over at Nick who was doing a poor job of trying not to laugh at her. Doing her best not to laugh herself, Sara attempted to glare at him, "Ok, Stokes, I'm going to get you for this." A giggle escaped her lips and a smile started to cross her face, "Just as soon as I change out of this dress."  
  
She flashed him a grin and disappeared into her bedroom. She emerged a few minutes later wearing a pair of low rise jeans and a fitted T-shirt. Nick was still trying to contain his laughter, as she headed back toward the couch. Sara raised an eyebrow at him before she grabbed one of the cushions off the couch and began pummeling him with it. He raised his arms in defense and managed to fend off her blows as he reached for her waist. Grabbing her around the waist with both hands, he pulled her down into his lap. Sara held onto the cushion and grinned at Nick with a mischievous look in her eye.  
  
Nick tightened his hold around her waist smiling, "Do you think we could lose the cushion?"  
  
"I don't know, what will you give me for it?" Sara tried to restrain her grin.  
  
Nick raised an eyebrow, "Oh, I've got something in mind." He pulled the cushion away from her and flung it to the floor.  
  
Sara grinned at him and slid her arms up his chest.  
  
Nick reached up and caressed her cheek with his hand, letting it slide into her hair. He pulled her close tasting her lips with his.  
  
Sara giggled, breaking the kiss. She looked into his eyes, "You taste like popcorn."  
  
Nick lay his head back on the couch and laughed, "So do you." Nick yawned. He looked over at Sara, "Sar, I need to go. I'm really tired. I've had a wonderful time being with you tonight." His fingers caressed her cheek.  
  
Sara got up off his lap so he could stand up, "I had a great time too. Thank you for everything."  
  
They walked hand in hand to the door. Nick pulled Sara close again, his arms securely around her waist. Sara's hands rested on his arms. A perplexed grin crossed his face, "Sara, if Cinderella had the pumpkin, what did Sleeping Beauty have?"  
  
Sara giggled, "She was woken up by a handsome prince kissing her."  
  
Nick grinned at her and leaned down to kiss her. Sara snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him close, deepening the kiss. They savored the taste of each other for a few moments then broke the kiss, resting their foreheads together.  
  
"Nick, why would you want to turn left at Albuquerque?" Sara queried.  
  
He looked at her slightly puzzled.  
  
"You know, Bugs Bunny says that in every cartoon." She explained.  
  
Nick grinned at her, "Maybe it's the way to Vegas."  
  
She leaned in and kissed him again long and deep. As they broke the kiss, Nick whispered, "I need to go. I'll see you later." Nick leaned in and gave her one more quick kiss before stepping out of their embrace.  
  
She opened the door grinning at Nick, "I had a wonderful time, Nick."  
  
"Me too." He grinned, leaning in to steal one more kiss before heading for his Tahoe and home.  
  
Neither of them could wipe the grins off their faces as they drifted off to sleep. 


End file.
